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captain-sparklefingers · 3 years

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CHARACTER NAME/ALIAS: Billy Batson / Shazam FACECLAIM: Alberto Rosende / Zachary Levi AFFILIATIONS: Nomads AGE: 26 SPECIES: Metahuman IS YOUR CHARACTER’S IDENTITY SECRET OR PUBLIC? Secret IF SECRET, OR YOUR CHARACTER IS A CIVILIAN, DO THEY HAVE A CIVILIAN OCCUPATION? Bar singer DOES YOUR CHARACTER LIVE IN THE MOUSEHOLE? IF SO, WHAT ARE THEIR DUTIES? Yes, he does, and he’s a farmer

DESCRIBE SIX TRAITS YOUR CHARACTER HAS AND HOW THESE AFFECT THEM:

+Kind Hearted: One of the reasons why he decided to use his powers for good, was exactly because of that. He hated seeing people suffering, he could have not known what to do with them in the beginning, but when he learned, he promised himself he would do everything in his power to protect others.

+Selfless: sometimes some would say he was even a little too much. He tended to always put other people's lives first. Luckily, when he was Shazam, that got him into less trouble, perks of having powers, but when he was a mere human, anyone could hurt him, which happened before.

+Loyal: he takes a long time to trust you, but when he does, he almost turns into a dog. He wouldn't ever betray you, would be by your side until your dying day. He would protect you no matter what. You could call him at 3 am saying that you're feeling sad and down, that he would go running to your place to cheer you up.

- Impulsive: he had gone to the field many times without a plan before, because the only thing he could think about when he saw someone in trouble, was that he needed to save the person. When he was the big guy, he tended to have a lot of wisdom, the same couldn't be said when he was just Billy. Despite being an adult, only four years away from his thirties, he wasn't the wisest on some occasions. But some have said that he could give some pretty good advices sometimes.

- Paranoid: when he starts to like someone, he tends to already start to imagine them leaving him, not wanting to have him in their lives anymore. His head starts to scream for him to run, so he doesn't get hurt, that little voice always shows up when he's already terrified of losing someone. He learned to deal with that, not let that control his actions, even if a lot of times, that little voice is still there, in the corner of his mind.

- Closed off: he hides how he feels 90% of the time, mostly negative feelings, because the happy ones, he tends to want to scream to the world, with the exception of love, which is extremely hard for him to talk about, especially to the person that he feels that toward. He took so long to tell his ex how he felt, actually he was only brave enough to do it when she said it first. But it wasn't just when he felt it romantically, platonic love was hard too, just not as much as the former.

POWERS AND/OR ABILITIES:

Wisdom of Solomon: Due to Solomon's blessings, Shazam has instant access to a vast level of scholarly knowledge. Billy describes this ability as a feeling and a moral compass.

Powers related to the above:

Clairvoyance: The wisdom of Solomon gives Billy clairvoyance and provides him with counsel and advice in times of need.

Divine Grace: Billy has the wisdom of Solomon which allows finesse in actions and dealings with others.

Eidetic Memory: Through Solomon's wisdom, Batson is capable of memorizing anything he sees.

Tactics of War: Through Solomon's blessings, Billy is an accomplished tactician.

Mathematics: Through Solomon's blessings, Billy is an accomplished mathematician.

Multilingualism: Through Solomon's wisdom, Shazam can speak any language when transformed. He has been shown to speak decent Arabic and Japanese.

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Strength of Hercules: With the blessings of Hercules, Billy's strength is greatly increased. He is able to crack concrete, bend steel, and could even fight toe-to-toe with Superman.

Powers related with the above:

Super-Leaping: With Hercules's blessing, Billy is able to use his strong leg muscles to leap far distances in a single bound.

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Stamina of Atlas: With the blessings of Atlas, Billy canendure great physical exertion without tiring while in his empowered form.

Powers related to the above:

Self-Sustenance: Because of Atlas' blessings, Shazam is able to survive without food, water or any other sort of sustenance while in his empowered form.

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Power of Zeus: Zeus' power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transforms Billy, also enhances his other physical abilities and allows for inter-dimensional travel and the casting of various mystical spells. Most notably, this power allows Shazam to manipulate and control the "living lightning".

Powers related to the above

Accelerated Healing: He displayed the ability to use the transformative lightning to heal others or himself instantly from wounds inflicted on his mortal form.

Dimensional Travel: Shazam can access the Rock of Eternity whenever he wants, which sits at the center of the Multiverse. Shazam was also able to forcibly transport the Wizard to the Rock of Eternity through a bolt of his lightning.

Electrokinesis: Shazam is able to generate and manipulate the "living lightning", which is the magical lightning that transforms him into Shazam. He can project the energy from his fingertips and even use the lightning bolt as a weapon by dodging it and allowing it to strike an opponent or other target.

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Magic: As the wielder of Shazam's power, Billy is capable of casting magic spells for various purposes. While originally not well-versed in magic, Billy eventually learned to cast precise spells from the Book of Champions.

Powers related to the above

Power Distribution: As Shazam, Billy can share a portion of his magical powers with anyone akin to family that he so chooses, giving both similar and different powers of their own based on their personalities. The Wizard considers this "sharing spell" the greatest of Billy's powers.

Size Alteration: Shazam has used a spell to shrink down to the size of Mister Mind, in order to fight him inside his father's head.

Summoning: By saying "Ala-Ka-Zamm!" Shazam was able to summon a ping-pong table into the Justice League Headquarters.

Thermal-Blast: Through a spell, Shazam was able to ignite a blast of Superboy-Prime's ice breath into flames, and redirect the blast at him.

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Courage of Achilles: This aspect is physical and partly psychological, and gives Billy superhuman amounts of inner strength to draw off from, while also making him indestructible to harm. Bullets have no effect on Billy, and conventional weaponry does nothing to his physical body as well. Only the most powerful of superhumans can topple him. He withstood a punch from an enraged Superman without any noticeable pain and injury afterwards.

Powers related to the above

Indomitable Will: Because of Achilles', blessing Shazam is very strong willed in his actions.

Immortality: As long as he remains in his empowered form he doesn't age

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Speed of Mercury: With the blessings of Mercury, Billy can run as fast as a bolt of lightning, this means Billy can at least run a third of the speed of light.

Powers related to the above

Flight: With Mercury's blessing, Billy is able to hover or out right fly at high speeds.

Superhuman Reflexes: Shazam's reflexes are heightened to superhuman levels.

WEAKNESSES:

Vocal reliance: The spell that allows Billy to transform into Shazam is purely vocal. Therefore, if he is prevented from speaking, such as being gagged, he will not be able to transform.

IC PORTION; DETAILS —

WHAT BROUGHT YOUR CHARACTER TO SOKOVIA? He moved from his hometown, because he thought that Sokovia needed help. He saw everything that was going on, and thought that maybe they needed a little hand. It was a hard decision, because he would be far from his family, but knowing he would have people he was close to there, he felt a little more at ease, he wouldn’t be alone. DID THEY SIGN THE ACCORDS? WHY OR WHY NOT? No, and is shocked by the vigilantes that did, especially Clark. He doesn’t see why anyone would agree with such thing, it was so clear to him that it was some kind of plan Lex created to take over the world. He didn’t trust him. PROVIDE 3-5 HEADCANONS RELATED TO YOUR CHARACTER:

Music is his passion, and he even thought about making a career out of it, but decided against. If people paid more attention to him, would make things harder, so he went for a job that had to do it with, but that he wouldn't get famous over it.

He always wanted pets, but never adopted one because his fear of them getting hurt because of him and his fighting crime job, was bigger.

He also loves dancing, and he is good at it. There are some occasions that he gets really shy, but dancing and singing, are not one of them. He finds so easy to move his hips.

Sometimes he stands on the bed while listening to music, and play air guitars and drums. He had been caught doing it before, many times by his adoptive parents and family.

WANTED CHARACTER CONNECTIONS:

People he joined forces for a mission: vigilantes are always running into each other, so he probably bumped on more than a few of them while working before the accords, and joined forces to stop whatever threat that was going on.

People he met in college: this one probably gonna be a little harder, but if your character has the same age as him or close, maybe they could have met when he was in college.

People that watched one of his gigs: even before going to Sokovia, he played and sang in a bar, so if they lived in Fawcett City or visited it, maybe they could have watched he sing?

CHARACTER BIO — tw alcoholism, vomit, death

Sometimes people that are parents, shouldn’t have become one. Billy Batson was born in Fawcett City, he never met his dad, because he left before the boy was born, so growing up without a dad was already hard, on top of that, his mother was not the greatest one. She drank, a lot. He had seen many times her either sleeping on the couch, with a bunch of empty bottles on the floor, or in the bathroom throwing up. It was hard to deal with it, he was just a kid, he was supposed to be enjoying his childhood, instead he had to take care of a woman that didn’t know when to stop. He had to be an adult, while his friends were outside playing.

She was a mess, which was why no one was surprised when her son was taken away from her and placed in an orphanage. Not that he was that thrilled about it, but he could finally rest. It was exhausting having to look after his mom, many times he had to clean her vomit off her bed or the floor. Maybe he could finally be a kid. He was lucky to be part of an orphanage filled with lovely people. Not all of them were like that, but the staff, they treated him well, however, he didn’t feel like they were a family. Speaking of it, took him a long time to find one that wanted to keep him. He went to one foster house to another, no one wanted him. Couples usually adopted a kid with this perfect image of a family in their head, and Billy just wasn’t the kind of kid that fit into that narrative. He was constantly getting himself into trouble, and running away from their home. He was a problematic kid, because staying 8 years in a home like the one he grew up in, scarred him. He got better as he got older, but it took him to finally find a loving family, and until nowadays, he had to deal with the aftermath of the things he had to face as a kid.

No one was ready to deal with him, so usually they gave up, except for one family. The moment that he met the Vasquez family, he could already notice that there was something different about them, the other families were also sweet at first, sure, but they were different, he could feel just how much they seemed to love him already, and since they had 5 other kids that they also adopted, it was hard to see them as bad people, still, the mere thought of them disappointing him, made him try to run away. It was in that day, that his life would stop being ordinary.

One moment he was in a subway, in the other he was in some kind of cave. He thought that he was dreaming for a moment, who would think that something like that was possible? Especially since there was a wizard there who gave him powers and told him that he was the chosen one. In a blink of an eye, he was an adult, or at least seemed to be in the body of one. After getting out of that cave, he started to freak out, talking out loud to no one in particular, mumbling about how on earth was he supposed to fix this? And why the heck it had to happen to him from all the people in that city? He knew that he would need someone’s help, and the first person that came to mind was Freddy.

Despite the fact that he was planning to run away and never look back, he knew that the boy would help him without hesitating, and for his delight, he did. It was hard to find out how he could go back to his fourteen year old self, but eventually they did. It was so simple, all he had to do was yell the same name that he had to yell in the cave, and shortly after, he was back to his normal self. That didn’t really take away his powers, he could go back to being Shazam at any moment he wanted, so he stayed in the Vasquez home, and his new foster brother helped him to train.

It wasn’t easy, and honestly, he was clearly not ready to be a hero, but he had to be, there was an evil man that he needed to defeat, he was strong. At first he didn’t want to, he didn’t think he would win, he was scared to die, but the moment that he threatened his new family, which after some time really grew on him, it awoke something in him, but the guy was stronger, he would need help. He had to give his siblings powers, the same way that the wizard did to him, together they were unstoppable. They were able to stop Sivana.

After that, Billy’s vigilante duty didn’t end, he continued it, and so did his siblings. Many threats came, and they stopped them all, they were making the world a better place. They could not be capable of changing the whole world, but a small part was still something. As time passed by, Billy had to juggle his secret life with his social and academic one. Found himself a girlfriend, finished high school, started college. It wasn’t an easy task, but he refused to give up of his mundane life or his vigilante one. He continued, and after some time he successfully graduated in music. He found a job in that area, a small little bar that needed a singer for the band that played there.

He had a girlfriend, a job he loved, and a family that were always there for him, not to mention plenty of friends that he never thought he would be able to even meet. Three big heroes that clearly adored him, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. Not only he could call them friends, but they were one of the biggest reasons why he had the strength to continue, he met Superman when he was only fourteen and still new to the whole hero thing, he guided him, the three of them did. They taught him so much, he felt like he owes them for the rest of his life, they were his second family.

His life could not have been the best, but at that moment in his life, he could say that it was almost perfect. It had downs like anyone else’s life, like when his best friend died, because he was in the wrong time, in the wrong place, Billy blamed himself for it, as he passed because the bullets that ricocheted him, went straight to the other boy. He learned to deal with the guilt, but there were many days that he still thinks about it, and if it was really his fault. Another thing that he blames himself for, was the end of his relationship, wonders if it could have lasted if he was a better boyfriend.

Things slowly started to get better, but like mentioned, life had many downs. What happened in Sokovia, the accords, it definitely affected him in such a huge way. Not just because he didn’t think that it was fair, but because he found out that one of the people that he trusted the most, Clark Kent, signed it. It infuriated him, how could he do such thing?! He thought he knew him, but apparently he didn’t.

He stayed months trying to decide whether he would move there or not, one more hero is never a bad thing. No matter how dangerous the situation was, he was willing to take the risk. He texted both Bruce and Diana almost daily, both because he missed them, and because he wanted to make sure they were safe and sound. He was still mad at Clark, but he still cared about him, he thought about texting him, he wrote a variety of them, but never sent it.

Months later, he finally decided that he should move, it would be hard to be away from his family, but he knew this was for a greater good, he had to be strong, so in 2018, he packed his things, and went to Sokovia. Without thinking twice, he became a member of the group that they were calling the Nomads, it was time to save that city.

#bio #srisingintro #tw death #tw vomit #tw alchoholism

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hrtiu · 3 years

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Worthy of Devotion: Chapter 1

Written to thank @lilhawkeye3 for organizing the @starwarssecretsanta event! I saw you reblog a request for a Fox/Chuchi AU where Riyo is Chancellor and Fox is her bodyguard, so here it is! I’m hoping to update weekly *fingers crossed* and I already have the first three chapters written. I hope you like it! AO3 link here.

Riyo waited while the scomp link whirred at Chancellor Palpatine’s personal terminal, nerves alight though she forced a casual expression on her face. There was a good chance she would die here, but her conscience would not allow her to walk away.

Chancellor Palpatine’s office was dark, the red glow of electronic ambient light casting a sinister haze over the otherwise plain office furniture. The few times Riyo had been in here before it had felt imposing, but the profound sense of dread the tall ceilings and wide, possessive window instilled was new. The scomp link finally stopped humming, and Riyo felt the beginnings of hope swell within her, though she knew any celebration was premature.

“Well, what have we here?” a cool, wizened voice sounded through the darkness.

Riyo whirled around, taking care to stand in front of the console with the scomp link still in it. “Chancellor Palpatine!” she said breathlessly.

“Senator Chuchi,” the elderly politician said, a menacing sneer on his face, “What reason could you possibly have to access my personal console?”

Terror gripped Riyo so intensely she couldn’t breathe. She hadn’t heard any doors open or close, but the Chancellor’s mysterious entrance only served as further evidence of her very worst suspicions.

“I, ah… Seem to have gotten lost,” she said, aware that it was a pathetic excuse but her imagination failing her.

“Hmm,” he said, considering her like he would a bug beneath his boot. “Well that is unfortunate for you, because I cannot afford to extend you the benefit of the doubt.”

In a flash Chancellor Palpatine raised a weathered hand and her throat seized up, the walls of her larynx squeezing tighter and tighter together.

“You’ve meddled in my affairs for the last time, Riyo Chuchi,” the Chancellor said, his brows furrowing in malice and transforming his features into those of the Sith Lord she now knew him to be.

She tried to shout, tried to scream for help, but it was no use. She was utterly powerless against a force so foreign and terrible as this. Black spots faded out her vision, and she felt herself begin to lose consciousness. This would be the end, there was no-

BAM BAM BAM.

Riyo woke up in a cold sweat, her white-knuckled hands clutching her sheets to her chest. Her heartbeat raced as she hurriedly turned on the lights, taking in the luxurious apartment around her and assuring herself that she was safe.

A heavy fist pounded against her door again. “Chancellor Chuchi? Is everything alright?”

Right. She was Chancellor, not Palpatine. She’d successfully obtained the evidence, assembled a coalition of senators, then gone to the Jedi Council to seek their aid in ousting the Sith Master. That had been months ago—months since Palpatine’s trial, months since his execution, months since the war had abruptly ended, months since she’d won the emergency election to replace Palpatine in a surprise landslide.

“Chancellor, I’m overriding the lock on the door” the voice from the other room said, finally bringing Riyo to full consciousness.

“No, wait-!”

Her ray-shielded doors hissed open and a clone soldier burst in, his distinctively-painted armor and unmistakable confidence identifying him as her personal bodyguard, Commander Fox. He first checked that Riyo was alive and well in bed, then his helmet swept back and forth across the room, scanning for any threats.

“Ma’am, I heard screaming,” he said.

“I screamed?” Riyo asked, surprised. She’d tried to scream in the dream but Palpatine’s vice-like grip around her throat had prevented her. She hadn’t realized her attempts would translate to vocalization in the waking world.

“Yes, Madam Chancellor. I asked if you were in need of assistance several times without a response. Otherwise I wouldn’t have-”

“Of course, Commander. I understand,” Riyo said, fighting the flush rising to her cheeks. She was perfectly covered in her sheets and knee-length nightgown, but she still felt exposed being seen by the intensely professional Commander in only her nightdress.

“Is there anything I can assist with?” Fox asked, voice slightly distorted by his helmet. She wouldn’t feel quite so embarrassed if he didn’t seem so completely composed. It was entirely unfair that he got to wear a helmet while Riyo had to go about with her emotions always written out on her face.

“No, thank you. Just a nightmare,” she said with a wave of her hand.

Fox stood up straighter, his posture somehow more relaxed standing tall. He gave her a respectful nod of the helmet. “I’ll leave you, then,” he said, turning for the door.

Riyo rubbed her eyes. “Wait, Fox? What time is it?”

“0500, ma’am.”

Riyo sighed, then pushed herself upright and swung her legs out over the side of the bed. “Then I might as well get up since I’m already awake.”

Fox nodded, then left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Riyo dressed quickly, partly to get a good start on her day but more so out of a desire to minimize the amount of time she had to spend by herself. She was Chancellor and Palpatine was dead, but she couldn’t help seeing his minions in the shadows or hearing threats from the former Separatist states plotting behind closed doors.

As soon as she left her quarters she was accompanied by a minimum of two people at all times, most often Commander Fox and her assistant Maja. Maja trailed her from meeting to meeting, arms stacked high with datapads and always ready with a reminder or a helpful suggestion, while Fox followed like a shadow, rarely noticed but ever-present.

In the morning she convened an endlessly tedious meeting with the Trade Federation to discuss reconciliation and the reopening of trade routes. A significant number of senators wanted to punish the Trade Federation for their relationship with the Separatists during the war, but Riyo had to remind them that the Federation was important for the galaxy’s economic recovery. That fact did not make the pompous Federation blowhards any easier to deal with, of course.

Riyo ate a quick lunch in the hallway as she rushed from one conference room to the next for the budget meeting with the Committee on Expenditures. The meeting was long and tense as committee members fought to fund their interests while the Senate struggled to pay for various wartime recovery plans. Riyo had long since learned that, while her colleagues might argue for a wide variety of proposals on the Senate floor, the budget told you where their true priorities lay.

Last up was the Armed Services Committee, and Riyo had arranged her day to build up to this tricky discussion. She had to gradually introduce the idea of creating jobs for former soldiers to the Trade Federation, then work out the very thorny negotiation of the GAR budget in the Committee on Expenditures. The Senators saw the wartime GAR budget as a wounded nerf, vulnerable and ready to be torn apart, but Riyo knew that the Armed Services Committee still had a lot to accomplish, even with the treaties signed.

“Just because the war is over doesn’t mean we have no need of a standing army,” Senator Paulness said.

“Yes, but one this expensive?” said Senator Taam. “We can’t afford this forever.”

“The biggest problem in my mind is that our soldiers should be paid,” said Senator Organa.

“Excuse me?” said Senator Taam. “Did you even hear what I just said?”

Riyo raised a hand. “Alright, alright, we’re not going to get anywhere talking over each other.”

The three men stopped bickering to look to her, and it took a moment for Riyo to react. She still wasn’t used to people listening to her.

“We need to reduce the size of the GAR,” she said. “We increased our loans from the Banking Clan to fund the latter half of the war, and that’s not the kind of deficit spending we can sustain, especially without a war to justify it. Now how much we reduce the size of the GAR and how we help our soldiers retire with dignity and respect is the challenge we must now resolve.”

The three senators fell silent and exchanged glances. “Easier said than done,” said Senator Paulness.

“Precisely. Which is why we will be meeting frequently over the next few months until we can pass legislation. I’ve met with my economic advisors and the Committee on Expenditures already, so their interests will be represented, and Commander Fox here can provide a clone perspective.”

Commander Fox’s helmet turned towards Riyo from his spot in the corner of the room, the first move he’d made since taking up the position.

“A clone? But won’t he be biased?” Senator Paulness said.

“As are we all,” Riyo said. “How can we discuss the future of the GAR without consulting those who will be most affected by our decisions?” She turned to face Fox. “Commander, are you willing to help?”

Fox took a split second longer than expected to respond, Riyo’s only hint that her request had thrown him off. “I will answer whatever questions you have, Madam Chancellor.”

That was good enough for Riyo. With a smile she motioned him to sit at the table, and Fox only hesitated a moment before folding his long legs under the table and taking a seat.

“And, um… If you wouldn’t mind,” Riyo said, tapping two fingers to her temple. “You can consider this an off-duty discussion.”

She might have imagined it, but Riyo thought she heard a sigh before the hiss and click of Fox removing his helmet, revealing an unamused frown underneath.

Fox had been one of the very first people to approach Riyo after her election. He’d congratulated her with characteristic dispassion and informed her that the Coruscant Guard was at her disposal, and that he specifically would be responsible for her personal security. Riyo had briefly considered sending him and his guard away, afraid that Fox was essentially one of the former Chancellor’s minions, in cahoots with him and to at least some degree complicit in his crimes. But within less than a day it had become clear that Fox and his men had been used and manipulated by Sheev Palpatine just as much, if not more, than the Senate.

“How can I help you, ma’am?” Fox asked, his handsome features sober as ever.

“Broadly speaking, what do you think of talk of disbanding the GAR?”

“I think the Republic needs a military force for protection against its enemies, prevention of aggression from outside forces, and enforcement of its laws within its borders,” Fox said.

“My point exactly!” Senator Paulness said.

“Perhaps you are right, but that is an argument for the maintenance of some form of armed services,” Riyo said. “What about the continuance of a clone army, specifically?”

Fox opened his mouth, then closed it again, his brow furrowing in the most obvious display of consternation Riyo had ever witnessed from him. “Has the clone army not performed to your satisfaction, Chancellor?”

Riyo’s eyes went wide. “Of course it has! No one who’s ever seen a clone unit in action could claim otherwise. But it doesn't seem right, that the clones should remain serving the Republic after the war has ended, and when the scandal of their conscription has been revealed.”

“That’s it exactly!” Senator Organa said. “How can we maintain an army our previous Chancellor wanted to use to bring himself to power? Take you, for example, Commander. You served directly under Chancellor Palpatine’s command, and now you fill the same position under Chancellor Chuchi. Does that seem right?”

“...I fought for this post, Senator. I didn’t receive it automatically after Chancellor Chuchi was elected.”

Riyo blinked blankly at Fox for a moment. She hadn’t known that.

“And forgive the correction, sir, but my position is not the same now as it was under Chancellor Palpatine. I was never Chancellor Palpatine’s personal guard, and though I’ve retained my rank, I no longer perform the role of Commander of the Coruscant Guard. That would be Commander Thorn.”

Riyo flushed a delicate blue. She hadn’t really realized herself that Commander Fox no longer commanded the Coruscant Guard. That seemed like the kind of thing she should know, but she was still so new to the job.

“Why would you request this post?” Senator Paulness asked, brow furrowed.

Fox pursed his lips, then spoke in a low, tight voice. “Sheev Palpatine sent hundreds of thousands of my brothers to die in a war that he created. I suppose I have to thank him, in a roundabout way, since we never would have been created but for the war. But I would be honored to die protecting the woman who freed us from him.”

Riyo leaned back in her seat and nervously interlaced her fingers, taken aback by the intensity of Fox’s regard. She’d always seen him as an extremely disciplined man who was devoted to his job, but realizing that some of that devotion was directed at her personally was… overwhelming. For not the first time she wondered if it hadn’t been a mistake to accept this position.

“But you see that’s exactly the problem, Fox,” Riyo said. “You and your brothers are still unpaid and disenfranchised. Can you still say that you’re free?”

Fox shrugged. “Then pay us.”

Now we get to the crux of the problem, Riyo thought to herself with a sigh. “The truth is that we can’t afford to pay you. There are over two million clones in the GAR, and most of them say they want to remain soldiers, but we can’t pay them. And I refuse to keep the clones on as property of the Republic.”

“We want pay and citizenship, but we avoid thinking of ourselves as property," he said, which Riyo could understand. The clones were required to devote themselves to the Republic, and she imagined that was much easier to do if they turned a blind eye to the abuses of the very Republic they served.

"We don’t know any other way of life, and we were made to be soldiers," Fox continued. "I’d imagine some of my brothers might even want to stay in the GAR even if they remained unpaid.”

Figures and tables from her many meetings with the budget committee floated through Riyo’s mind, and she shook her head.

“We can’t afford to continue as we are, either,” Senator Taam said, giving voice to Riyo’s thoughts. “Now that we’re no longer involved in a galactic war, we have no need of such a large standing army, and there’s no way the Senate will allocate the funds necessary to maintain the GAR at its current size, even if clones remain unpaid.”

An uncomfortable tension filled the room, and Fox’s hard gaze weighed on Riyo for several seconds before he responded. “I don’t understand what you want from me. What is it you want my opinion on?”

“The GAR can’t remain as it is. We need to find a way to transition our soldiers to a civilian, citizen life. Does that sound appealing to you? How do you suggest we do that?”

“Citizenship is appealing, but life outside the military is an unknown quantity—a risk. Most of my brothers will not want that if given a choice. At least in the GAR we know we will have food and housing. Very few men will be willing to leave the service unless a source of employment, housing, and purpose is made clear.”

It was more or less the answer Riyo expected, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. She felt certain if the clones had any idea what civilian life was like they’d be more willing to leave the GAR, but of course she couldn’t know that for sure. They’d been tailor-made for war—maybe it truly was the way of being they enjoyed most.

“We’re talking in circles,” Senator Paulness said. “We need to come up with practical, actionable legislation.”

“Well I think it’s clear where we need to start,” Riyo said. “Under no circumstances should the clone army be considered the property of the Republic. I know Commander Fox says that’s not how they see themselves but currently, legally-speaking, they are practically slaves. I propose we immediately introduce legislation that makes GAR service voluntary and releases the clones from Republic ownership. Separate legislation will be worked out later negotiating the GAR budget and providing assistance to those clones transitioning out of military service.”

Senator Paulness opened his mouth to object, but Senator Organa cut him off with a severe look. “Are you seriously going to argue against freeing sentient beings the Republic never should have owned in the first place, Zinn?”

Senator Paulness shut his mouth.

“I can agree to that,” Senator Taam said. “I’ll draft the bill and send committee members a draft by the end of the week.”

“Excellent,” Riyo said. “And I think Commander Fox should be a permanent fixture in our meetings. We can work on making him an official member of the Committee.”

Senators Taam and Paulness exchanged doubtful looks, but Senator Organa agreed and quickly moved the topic back to the voluntary service legislation.

They spent the rest of the meeting arguing over wording and timing, and Commander Fox melted into the background, resuming his statue-like state. The meeting convened, and Riyo gathered up her datapads and checked her chrono, wondering what Maja had planned for dinner.

“Madam Chancellor,” Senator Paulness pulled her aside before she had a chance to make her escape.

“Yes?”

Senator Paulness grimaced. “Must we really have Commander Fox in all of our meetings? He has a somewhat… unnerving presence.”

Riyo glared at the senator, appalled, then glanced over her shoulder to see if Fox was in hearing distance. His intensity could sometimes set her on edge, too, but it was his job to be vigilant. He’d only ever shown her loyalty and professionalism, and he didn’t deserve the judgment of a second-rate hack like Paulness. “The clones must have an advocate in these discussions, Senator. I won’t hear another complaint about this.”

“But-”

“Not another word, Senator.”

Riyo turned on her heel and marched from the room, Maja and Fox trailing after her. She marched with head held high all the way to the lifts, though once safely inside she let herself lean against the wall. It had been a long, exhausting day.

“Madam Chancellor?”

Riyo started, looking up only to realize it was Commander Fox who had addressed her. He’d rarely initiated conversation in the six months that he’d served as her personal guard.

“Yes, Fox?”

“I don’t think I’m the best choice to represent the clones in your discussions.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’m a high ranking officer who served in the capital instead of on the front lines. My experiences are not representative of the vast majority of clone service.”

Riyo brought a hand to her chin, considering. “That’s a fair argument.”

“I could provide suggestions for alternatives.”

“See that you do,” Riyo said. “A clone perspective must be represented in the writing of this legislation, and if you can’t find a suitable replacement, I must insist that you stay on.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

---

“We’re getting hammered on the road, sir!” Captain Peke’s voice screamed to Bacara over the commlink.

Bacara cursed under his breath. “Defensive positions, return fire! Just… hunker down until the General takes them out!”

“Yessir!”

Bacara settled back into the shallow trench he and his company of ARC troopers had dug into the thick jungle.

“Peke’s AT-TE company’s getting destroyed, aren’t there?” Solus asked from Bacara’s side, and Bacara nodded tersely in response.

“We told General Mundi this would happen! What the kriff was he thinking?”

“Hey!” Bacara said sharply. “Watch your tone, soldier. We follow orders.”

Solus shut his mouth but shook his head, his eyes rolling in frustration. And privately, Bacara had to agree with him. General Mundi’s plan to take the Separatist base involved a two-pronged approach: Peke would come up the cliffside road with a company of AT-TEs while Bacara’s team dropped behind enemy lines. The two groups would attack at once, overwhelming the enemy. When Bacara had voiced concerns about how exposed the AT-TEs’ path was, General Mundi had told him not to worry. The General would be leading his own strike force to take out whatever forces bombarded the AT-TEs.

Don’t worry. Trust the Force. You need not be concerned. The General was always spouting that kind of nonsense and Bacara was getting kriffing sick of it.

“General Mundi,” Bacara commed the Cerean Jedi. “Captain Peke needs support now.”

“I’m on my way, Commander, never fear,” came his response.

I’m not afraid, Bacara thought but didn’t say, pursing his lips.

He shut off his comm and settled in for a long wait.

“We shouldn’t even be here,” Solus grumbled.

Bacara hit him upside the head. “Quiet. Don’t give our position away and screw this operation up even more than it already is.”

A sullen silence descended upon the group as they all stewed over Solus’s words. They shouldn’t even be here. The war was officially over, the politicians on Coruscant had already signed the treaties and shaken hands. But rogue Separatist cells remained and as usual, the Republic sent its disposable army to clean up its messes.

And it wasn’t even the same Republic they’d been serving for the past three years. Just before this campaign had begun news of Chancellor Palpatine’s arrest and execution had come through. It seemed strange to Bacara that the organization that owned them could simply change hands like that from one rival to the next, but he was just a soldier after all.

The team sat in tense silence for another two hours. Then the signal finally came through.

“Commander Bacara, Captain Peke and his men have reached the base. Launch your assault now.” came General Mundi’s voice over the comm.

“You heard him, boys. Let’s move out!”

The fight was long and brutal, but that was Bacara’s specialty. Peke’s AT-TE division was severely reduced from the start, and General Mundi’s division, while incredibly effective, was small and limited in its influence. That left the bulk of the fighting to Bacara and his men. As usual, Bacara thought.

At the end of the day, they prevailed through the skill, blood, and sacrifice of Bacara’s men. It made Bacara proud. It made him angry.

Bacara strode into the command center aboard the Venator still covered with the sweat and dirt of battle.

“Congratulations on the day’s victory, General,” he said to General Mundi.

General Mundi inclined his wizened head. “Death and destruction is never to be celebrated, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

The click of Bacara’s jaw was the only outward hint of what he thought of that response. “I’ll have the reports from the battle prepared for you by 0600.”

“Thank you, Bacara. We can have a more thorough debrief after I’ve read the reports.”

Bacara doubted much would be gleaned from such a debrief, but he nodded regardless. General Mundi was a skilled warrior who’s Force powers and lightsaber made him extremely valuable on the field of battle, but he was not military-minded. It had taken several years for the scales to fall from Bacara’s eyes, for him to realize that the unquestioning belief in the Jedi generals ingrained in him from his time on Kamino was flawed, but fall they had.

It made no sense that men who’d lived, dreamed, ate, breathed warfare their entire lives—who’d been created for battle—should be led by an order of pacifist monks. But of course aside from battle Bacara had also been created for obedience, so he grit his teeth and bore it.

Had he been in charge of today’s battle, Bacara would have secured the ridge opposite the road before sending in the AT-TEs. He would have sent air support from the south to distract from the ARC troopers to the north. Fewer men would have died, and their objective would have been taken more swiftly.

“Then what is our next objective, sir?” Bacara asked.

“We’ve received reports of a Separatist cruiser nearby—the Obrexta. Intelligence intercepted transmissions stating that it is carrying cargo of great importance to Count Dooku. We are to ambush the cruiser and, if possible, seize the cargo.”

“Yes, sir.”

#star wars #the clone wars #tcw #foxiyo #fanfic #gift fic #swsecretsanta2020 #commander fox #riyo chuchi #chancellor chuchi #bodyguard au

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vgckwb · 3 years

Text

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 51: A Nudge in The Right Direction

After breakfast, Ren decided to head over to the medical office of Dr. Takemi. Once she arrived, she said “Hey doc.”

Takemi looked up. “Oh ho, it’s been a while. I was beginning to think you were afraid of me.

“Nah, I know you don’t bite,” Ren said. “I’ve just been kind of busy.”

“Well, you seem productive,” Takemi said. “But actually your break was productive for me as well. I had some time, so I began processing the results of our tests.”

“Really?” Ren said. “And how’s that going?”

“Hm,” Takemi laughed. “It’s going exceptionally well. I think with a few more tests, this thing could be fully functional.”

“Splendid,” Ren said.

“Excuse me?” a man said, walking up. With him was his wife and their child, a young girl who looked under the weather to say the least. “Is this a medical facility?”

“Um, yes…” Takemi said, surprised by this development.

“We need some help,” the man continued.

“Our daughter is sick, and the treatment we’ve been given isn’t working” the mother informed her.

“I see…” Takemi said.

“Can you help?” the father asked.

Takemi was silent. Ren could tell she wasn’t entirely sure of herself, so she did what any friend would do; hype them up. “Of course. Dr. Takemi doesn’t have this medical facility for nothing. She’s an expert.”

The parents and Takemi looked at Ren. The parents looked at Takemi. “You’re in charge here.”

Takemi looked back at them. “Yes,” she said. She caught up to the situation and gained her confidence back. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with. Come in.” Everyone started to move except Ren. Takemi noticed this. “You too.”

“Her?” the dad said, surprised.

“She’s my assistant,” Takemi informed him.

“Well, OK then,” the father said. Ren shrugged and walked in.

Takemi was doing a check up on the symptoms her parents described. “Hmmmm.”

“We’ve been trying the medicine for over a month, but it doesn’t seem to work.” the mother said. “When we tried explaining as such to our normal doctor, he just brushed us off.”

Takemi finished her check up. “I see. Well, either this guy is either pretty stupid, or has an ego the size of Tokyo.” She went to her desk to write out a prescription. “Does she have any allergies I should know about?” Her parents shook her head. Takemi finished filling it out. “Well then, here. Her symptoms lineup with a few different diseases, but there are subtle differences, and I feel like they just got it wrong. If this medicine doesn’t see an improvement in her condition in a week, come see me again.”

The father took it, looked up to her, and said “Thank you. How much do we owe you?”

“10,000 yen,” Takemi said.

“What?” the father said.

Ren tried to cool things down. “That’s a joke. She does that from time to time.”

“I mean, it’s fine, we’ll pay it…” the mother said.

Takemi looked at all of them. “Tell me, the facility you went to before, was the head doctor there a man by the name of Oyamada?”

“Um, yes” the father said.

Takemi smiled. “Then consider today on the house.” Everyone was shocked. “That one was not a joke.”

The girls’ parents were still stunned, but they nodded, and the father said “Thank you.” They left to go get the medicine. Takemi sighed a sigh of relief.

“So, how does it feel?” Ren asked, smiling all the while. “Being a doctor in situations like this?”

Takemi smied. “While I didn’t like getting jumped into it,” she gave Ren some side-eye, “I will say, it is a rather nice feeling. While I get patients here, nothing like that really happens all too much.”

She glanced off. “To be honest, I thought I’d lost my touch. I was worried about what would happen if I did something wrong. I guess I still am, but the difference is I took action once you pushed me. Besides, I’m certain I figured the problem out. Not to mention I got to stick it to Oyamada. That’s always good.” Ren seemed a bit confused, but didn't worry too much. “So, despite the manner in which you did so, thanks for supporting me. I mean, I did call you in there for a reason.”

Ren was a little worried she’d get more of a reprimand than that. She smiled and said “Thanks.”

“By the way, we still have your test to do,” Takemi said. “Are you ready?” Ren felt a little sheepish, but nodded, and they ran the test as usual. Once Ren woke up, Takemi noted “Faster than usual. That either means the medicine is improving, or you’ve changed dramatically recently.”

“Well, I've been in Tokyo for a full two months now,” Ren said, not missing a beat. “The city certainly changes people.”

Takemi got a laugh out of that. “I mean physically, but I do like hearing about that. I take it you’re doing well.”

Ren nodded. “And part of it is thanks to your medicine.”

“Hm. Well that’s good to hear” Takemi said.

“Speaking of…” Ren said. She took the time to buy some. She bought more than she usually would as a sort of apology for forcing Takemi’s hand earlier.

“Well thank you” Takemi said after the transaction. Ren nodded. She flashed a very genuine smile. “You know, it’s nice to have a friend like you.” Ren smiled back.

Death-Tae Takemi: Rank 4

Ren left for the evening.

As she was leaving, she got a message from Yoshida.

Yoshida: I’m having another speech tonight. Care to join me.

Ren smiled.

Ren: Sure.

She headed off to Station Square to meet up with Yoshida. Once she did, Yoshida greeted her. “Ah, Amamiya-chan. Might I say that was quite a spectacle on TV.” Rn groaned. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Ren said. “I’m just not used to that much attention.”

“I see,” Yoshida said. “Well, if you aim to be a politician, that can’t be avoided. People will always be watching you because you’re supposed to be a reflection of the people who elected you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ren said.

“Well, it’s about time,” Yoshida said. “Shall we get going?” Ren nodded. “Oh, before we go, I do have a question.” Ren was curious. “I could avoid it, but I did write this speech based around the interview, and there’s even a part where I point you out. Would you like me to take it out?”

Ren looked at him and shook her head. “It’s fine. People are already talking about it, and I trust you more than most people to handle things well.”

“Why thank you” Yoshida said, smiling ear to ear. “Now let’s go.”

Ren picked up the card she would be holding. “‘Tonight’s Topic: What We Can Learn from Today’s Youth’.” Ren smiled, picked up the card, and headed over.

Yoshida took his place, Ren took hers, and a crowd started to gather. Ren noticed some people from last time she was here, but also noticed some new faces. “People of Tokyo!” Yoshida began. “As you may know, the Phantom Thieves struck again, this time at the heart of the art world. Of course I was surprised by this as well. But one thing the two incidents have in common is that both perpetrators have abused children.

Society goes on and on about how we should think of the children, but are we really thinking? Or are we pretending to think about them when really we’re thinking of ourselves? Recent data shows that only 12% of people throughout Japan believe and admire the Phantom Thieves, with the plurality of that being children and young adults.

Of course, generational divides exist, and of course, with age comes wisdom, but as adults, we cannot ignore everything these children say just because it doesn’t agree with our point of view. Children have opinions and ideas. To ignore them would be to discourage them from thinking at all. Why, just recently my assistant here debated another student about the Phantom Thieves.”

The crowd was more alert as they turned to Ren to confirm it was her. Ren was feeling the heat just a little too intently and began hiding behind the card she was holding. “Ahem!” Yoshida exclaimed, getting everyone’s attention back on him. “This makes it very clear that children have ideas they wish to express. And the popularity of the interview suggests that people are willing to listen. But we can’t make that a sometimes thing. We need to learn to listen whenever we can. I know that they can’t vote, but that doesn’t mean that if I’m elected, I’m representing them less.

I will listen to everyone’s concerns, no matter who brings them to me. I am running to represent all of you. To be that reflection of you all. And I wish that I would be a reflection you are proud to wake up to in the morning, and proud to see before you go to sleep. Thank you.” There was a little bit of clapping.

After the speech, Ren and Yoshida met up. “Sorry about that,” Yoshida said.

“No, it’s fine. I said it was alright” Ren said, clearly exhausted.

“Well, neither of us expected that much attention to shift towards you,”Yoshida responded.

Ren gathered herself. “By the way, that was an excellent speech.”

“Ah ha, thank you,” Yoshida said. “And as I said earlier, you did well yourself. Especially against someone like Akechi.”

Ren was a bit stunned. “You know Akechi?”

“Well, not personally,” Yoshida said. “But his reputation as Japan’s second Detective Prince precedes him. He’s apparently solved quite a few cases the police were stumped by.”

“I see…” Ren said, going into some thought. “Switching topics…” Yoshida looked at her, curious. “Well, I know you said kids have their own thoughts, and you used mine and Akechi’s debate as evidence, but…I don’t know if that’s more the majority, or just a vocal minority.”

“Bah ha!” Yoshida laughed. “I can see why you’d think that. But let me ask you this: Do you think every adult is as driven to stand for something?” Ren was surprised. “Exactly. So why should a concern be ignored just because it comes from a child? It shouldn’t.”

“Right. Sorry” Ren said.

“It’s fine,” Yoshida said. “As much as you know, there are some things you only learn through experience. But even so, you’re something special.”

Ren was surprised. “I am?”

Yoshida nodded. “While you might not have as much experience, you’re strong-willed, and have a good heart. That alone will take you a long way, no matter where you go. And also, you’ve helped me too.” Ren was shocked.

Yoshida continued. “Before you began helping me, I would make my speeches, and I would try to get the crowd stirred, but there was always a voice in the back of my mind saying that I’ll never earn the people’s trust. But you have proven me wrong, and I feel that makes me a better politician. Not just promising results, but seeing that people listen. So thank you, for helping me find my footing.”

Ren smiled. “Thank you. For helping me find mine too.” Yoshida’s smile widened. Ren’s did as well.

Sun-Toranosuke Yoshida: Rank 2

After their meeting, they headed home.

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona fanfiction #p5r #p5r rework #p5 rework #p5 femc #p5 #FeMC #female ren #ren amamiya #TAE TAKEMI #yoshida toranosuke

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skvaderarts · 3 years

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Hiraeth Chapter 22: Proposition

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Twenty-Two: Proposition

Note: This entire chapter feels like a shitpost, and I love it. Also, dear god have I been busy working on things for a physical release of the fic! You’ll hear more about that next week on Wednesday, but if you are interested in beta reading, I have left a form below. Doing it myself is tricky, and there is a free copy in it for you bound in your choice of type (hardback, paperback, hardback with a paper cover, etc) and you will receive credit because I’m not a monster XD.

I think I want to do it as a charity thing, so suggest charities the proceeds should be donated to in the form below even if you’re not interested in being a beta reader! The size of the charity is irrelevant. They just have to be credible (IE not a nightmare like Autism Speaks or the Salvation Army, or PETA, not to get judgy or upset anyone. They just have a very bad rep.) Anyway, enough of that! Back to the story!

(-~-)

By all accounts, the initial plan had been simple enough. They were going to eat dinner and then see where the evening took them. The only issue was that not a single one of them had really thought the plan through. That was typical enough, all things considered, but none of them really considered the fact that accomplishing that goal might be a little bit harder than they had originally expected it to be. Namely because of one major problem.

While Sirrus’s intentions had been pure enough when he had offered to cook, and V’s had been equally so when he had agreed to allow him to do so, the execution of those plans had left much to be desired. Making plans without knowing the full extent of their impact seemed to be something that ran in the Sparda family, regardless of the context of the plan, and while this was a minor occurrence in a sea of what had otherwise been huge high stakes situations, that didn’t change the fact that it was literally impossible to cook without food. And if it wasn’t, no one present wanted to know how that was done.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems that you might be a little short on… everything at the moment.” Sirrus said as politely as he could, clearly amused by the utter emptiness that he was presented with when he opened the cabinet door. “Am I getting my hopes up by assuming that you have something in the refrigerator, or are we just going to have to make a run to the store? I mean, we’re probably going to have to for what I had in mind, but still.”

V felt himself die a little inside at his companion’s polite yet ruthless assessment of his current living situation. Sirrus was entirely correct, it was too much to hope for. He hadn’t really been home much recently, if at all since he had acquired the place, and as such, grocery shopping had been very low on his list of priorities. It had been easier to just grab something and call it a day in the two days that he had actually been in the house so far. He only wished that he had thought of that before he’d offered to allow Sirrus to cook! He could have saved himself a lot of unneeded embarrassment.

Was this what it felt like to be Dante? Because if it was, that was a tragedy. The only upside to his current situation was that Lucia, Nico, and Nero were in the next room talking, so they were not able to experience his deep loathing and shame first hand, not to mention the verbal beatdown that he had just suffered at Sirrus’s hands. Or should he say vocal cords? Either way, the point still stood that he did indeed need to procure food because the only thing available to consume in the house was peeling wallpaper, dried-out paint, and dust. And knowing V’s luck, Shadow had probably already consumed those already when he wasn’t looking. That was absolutely something she would do.

“I would say the latter is the most true, given the options at hand. That is not to say that the second option is not correct, as it absolutely is… but that’s not the type of narrative I’d like to weave at this juncture.” V “But the thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest, so it is probably best that I simply accompany you to the store so I can see to it that my cabinets are not as bare as Dante’s office is dark.”

Sirrus nodded as he closed a stary cabinet door, turning to fully face the slightly frazzled young man. “That seems agreeable enough. Hopefully my matter of fact, no-nonsense way of stating the obvious wasn’t as abrasive as it seems now that I am able to look back on it. Hindsight is 2020, as they say.” He straightened out his long shirt, adjusting his shoulders as he allowed his head to pull from side to side. He was slightly uncomfortable as, for the first time, he stepped close enough to V to notice that they were largely the same size and stature. What an eye-opening realization. “I’m sarcastic, some would even sardonic, but I like to think I’m not unfeeling. I’ve yet to lose my grip on the reality of the world around me and start to view the rest of the world with a sort of cold dissonance like so many around me have. What do people call that now? Being edgy? Somehow I am under the impression that that might not be the proper use of that term.”

V brushed him off, taking a step to the side instead of taking a step back. He wasn’t intimidated by the tall redhead despite the fact that he was sure that he probably had ample reason to be. There was a certain mysterious quality to him that was carefully outlined with a certain measure of involuntary menace that he couldn’t quite place, and his prior comments didn’t help in that regard. There was just something… feral about him, some sort of wild strength that he knew that his guest could reach into if he wished to do so and bring to bear against those he considered deserving of it. It was something that he could just feel in the pit of his stomach, a sort of primordial sense of strength and power that reminded him of his own family, but it was notably different in a way that was hard to describe. Was it darker somehow? Was that the right way to put it?

But that wondering was enough to keep him grounded in a situation like this. He seemed trustworthy, but he would still keep his guard up until he was absolutely sure, even if he wasn’t actively trying to do so. It was simply instinct, and going with his gut had kept him alive this long, so he was going to continue doing so. If it wasn’t broken, then he wasn’t going to fix it. “Think nothing of it. I take no offense to you stating the obvious. I don’t think that there has been food in this house in at least a decade.”

“Probably longer than that, if I remember correctly. This place has been empty for about fifteen years. After the will was read, Magnolia’s side of the family cleaned the place out as quickly as they could before they went their separate ways. Quite a lot of bad blood between them, from what I could tell. It was a shame how that all played out, but grief brings out the worst in people, especially when the root cause of that grief is so… unexpected.” The man with the long red hair peered out of the back door for a moment as though he were expecting something or perhaps had heard a commotion of some sort. He seemed to study the bushes against the back wall for a long moment before continuing. “As per your request… that is more than fine by me. I won’t, then. I shall pretend that we never mentioned the food in the first place.”

“You say that as though you were personally there to see it. You seem too young to have witnessed something of that nature, but you have first-hand knowledge of it from a viewpoint that would suggest that you were a neutral party witnessing it from within the inner circle of what was going on.” V was admittedly curious as to how Sirrus would explain something like that in a way that made sense. Or would it make sense at all? Who was to say. He would simply have to wait and find out. “I had assumed that we were quite close in age. But then again, everyone knows what they say about assuming things. I should have known better than to think that I know everything about someone that I barely know. My mistake.”

“Looks can be deceiving, as I’m sure you know first hand. Your family is quite literally living proof of that concept. I assure you however that I was present. I just seem younger than…” He stopped, catching himself as though he were about to say something that he didn’t mean to, waiving off both his near mistake and V’s apology casually. V was clever, something that he had pegged about him from the very first moment that they had made eye contact. It was something intrinsic in the way that he held himself, and every time that he had opened his mouth since then had only served to strengthen that notion. But now his keen intellect was becoming troublesome, not that it changed anything in the end either way. ”That quote from before about the harvest… William Blake, if I remember correctly? I’m quite fond of his works, especially the illustrations. Quite the brilliant man.” He stopped for a moment, seemingly considering something before looking over at the doorway. He then nodded quietly to himself before redirecting his attention towards V once more, finding his companion’s silence interesting. He seemed to be waiting for him to continue. “Personally, Mary Shelly is my all-time favorite. Frankenstein and all that. I have a more contemporary favorite as of late, but telling you that might say more about me than I mean for it to, so I’ll keep it to myself for now.

Now V had more questions than answers. Sirrus was a walking mystery, and the more that he spoke, the more V questioned his own perception and his impression of him changed. It was as fascinating as it was confounding, but he couldn’t say that he disliked it. There was just something captivating about not being able to read him, regardless of how hard he tried. A part of him wondered if anyone else in his family had this issue. He would ask them when presented with the chance to do so. Well then, back to what we were discussing before.”

“We were discussing something before? I can’t say that I remember anything. But I do recall you saying to “think nothing of it.” The playfully smug, all-knowing tone of voice that he spoke in was enough to make V shake his head and roll his eyes, but he resisted. It was a welcome juxtaposition to the conversation that they had just indulged in, and they were both somehow simultaneously relieved that they didn’t have to indulge in it any longer.

He couldn’t help but snicker somewhat at that response. Sirrus was endearingly hatstand, wasn’t he? Despite the unintentionally tense conversation that they had just indulged in, the white-haired summoner couldn’t help but be amused. It was complicated, and yet so very simple. “Let’s go to the store, Sirrus. I’ll tell the others that we will return shortly. You may accompany me if you’d like.”

Sirrus nodded politely, using both hands to signal to him that he was to walk first as he bowed lower than what was needed and stepped back out of his companion’s way. V scoffed in amusement but went along with his slightly antiquated gesture, admittedly entertained by it. Yes, this had to be what other people felt like when they met him for the first time. He understood why they looked at him like that now. Slowly but surely, it was all coming together.

(-~-)

From what they could tell, the store was mostly empty. It was nearly 9 o’clock at night, and it seemed that everyone who wanted to buy groceries had done so by then. While it was understandable that most people in the city wouldn’t want to start cooking this late, it was still a little bit surreal to see just how few people were willing to make a midnight dash to the supermarket to stock up on general goods and necessities. One could only imagine that recent events in the region had made people more than a little bit jumpy, but this was an entirely new level of silent unrest that made an already somewhat eerie environment that much more uncomfortable.

As the absentmindedly browsed the shelves in relative silence, V shifted in discomfort. He couldn’t shake the persistent feeling that something simply wasn’t right, and that he should go with his gut and leave this place before something happened. Although it was basically impossible to predict something like that, V was convinced that the persistent feeling of unrecognizable dread that he felt brewing in the very pit of his stomach was something more substantial than he was allowing himself to believe. And under the guise of trying not to seem silently panicked, he couldn’t help but feel a nameless terror overtake him. This feeling that he felt was familiar in the worst way possible. It reminded him of the train ride back in Lucia’s homeland, the strange subconscious sensation that he was no longer in the driver’s seat in regards to his own cognitive feedback. And the idea that his enemy might be trying to do something, anything at all, was not good. He needed to do something fast.

“I apologize if my being around you alone is subconsciously offputting. I get the impression that you are disturbed, and you probably aren’t sure what that is just yet. Let me assure you that it is in fact, me, and that I am not doing so intentionally.” Sirrus casually reached up and took a can down from a shelf, turning it over in his hands absentmindedly as he studied it to see if it was something that he could use. “But the disturbance that you feel is most certainly tangible. I recognized your specific gifts and aptitudes a while back. You have a heightened sensitivity to certain things. Very useful if utilized correctly.”

He paused for a moment to look at V, seemingly waiting for him to respond in some way. As he realized that his companion wasn’t speaking, he sighed with bated breath, looking slowly from side to side as he checked to make sure that no one was around them. Not that he needed his eyes to do that. It was more for V’s benefit than his own, in any case. “To someone with a trained eye, abilities like that stick out like a sore thumb, especially when the person in possession of them doesn’t yet know how to control them. But that is not to say that you don’t have amazing potential if only someone were to educate you as to how to do deliberately what already comes to you so naturally.”

“Gifts? What are you…” V paused as he considered what he wanted to say next. Sirrus could see something about him that the rest of the people he knew couldn’t? That was alarming to him for reasons that he couldn’t quite place at the moment. Was he that obvious? What else had he been doing that he just hadn’t noticed was a dead giveaway in regards to his true nature? Could anyone else tell, or was that something specific to Sirrus?

“Your grandfather is the Dark Knight Sparda, yes? I couldn’t help but notice your surname. He was a good man. And he was very powerful. I see things in both you and your brother that I do not see in your older relatives.” He seemed to be speaking carefully as he headed to the center aisle in his search for… whatever it was that he was looking for to cook dinner with. He seemed to notice V’s quiet, well-concealed panic, but the atmosphere had changed notably in the air around them. There was a certain latent hostility to V’s demeanor that hadn’t been there before, and for the first time since he’d arrived in town to carry out his mission, he felt genuinely threatened by someone. While he had indeed encountered resistance, nothing so far had felt so pure, so dynamic in its ability to utterly destroy him, and he got the impression that neither V nor himself truly knew what the young man with the white hair was capable of at that moment. And as exhilarating as that might be under most circumstances, this was far from the case at this moment in time.

It was time to start explaining himself.

“... Sometimes things skip a generation, carried in latent genes by your forebears. This may be one of those cases. That’s what makes me as powerful as I am in some regards. And it is why we have what I like to call Dry Generations; instances in which nothing particularly interesting happens.” The hostility level didn’t decrease much, and Sirrus took a mental note of that, preparing himself should the worst happen. And he hoped with every fiber of his being that it wouldn’t. Something told him that if he had to resort to that, Vergil wouldn’t appreciate him having to explain it after the fact, and the last thing he wanted to have to do was pry Yamato out of his own chest. Vergil had quite the throwing arm. And as fast as he was, he wasn’t sure he was quite that fast. “But when more interesting individuals are born, well, they are most certainly more… intriguing. You and Nero seem to fit that bill nicely.”

“Are you threatening me?” V asked point-blank, his posture slightly more straight than it had been a moment before. Perhaps without thinking it, V had shifted into a readied stance, unwilling to be taken off guard by any kind of sudden attack. Resorting to this kind of public display of power had to be against some code of ethics or something, but he wasn’t going to stand there and take something like that laying down if it came to it. He needed to make that clear, even if Magnolia probably wouldn’t appreciate him bringing Sirrus to her in the middle of the night filled with puncture wounds from Shadow and several broken bones from a trip off of a local roof, courtesy of Griffon. He just hoped that he wouldn’t need to do that. And although he was somewhat sure that he wouldn’t need to, that didn’t change the fact that he might still need to defend himself.

In a moment of self-awareness, Sirrus shook his head, stepping back slightly as he allowed his head to rest on the edge of the center bin that he stood next to. There was some kind of meat inside of it with a sale sign next to it, but that would only become relevant if they made it out of this encounter in one piece. What a fascinating reaction. I would have never thought that he was capable of actually being overtly aggressive considering his physical state and general disposition. He normally has such a mild mentality.” He thought to himself as he let his arms fall to his sides, wanting to demonstrate as clearly as possible that he was not trying to intimidate V or cause him any harm. One could only imagine what he had been through in his young life, and he wasn’t going to add to that pain and suffering if he could help it.

Maybe it was simply the demon side of him showing itself a little in that moment as a natural defense mechanism? He knew that they were not entirely human, after all, and he had no idea how much demonic blood ran through his veins. It mattered very little if he was being truthful with himself. His pedigree alone ensured that he was powerful, And that was something he could deeply sympathize with on an extremely personal level. He too carried his own darkness locked away deep within himself, even if it was a different form of it. He couldn’t judge him for the one time he slipped up. Hell, he’d give him a hug if he wasn’t so sure it would get him stabbed through the gut with V’s cane.

“Oh, perish the thought. Not even slightly. I wouldn’t dare. Though I do admit that it probably seems that way.” He watched V relax slightly, at least physically, sliding back into the comfortable leaning position that he was accustomed to associating with him. It made him wonder what the young summoner had been through that had made him this way, or if perhaps it was a one-off fluke reaction to this exact situation. Maybe he could ask him another time when he calmed all the way down. It seemed that he had at least a little bit of his father in him after all. “Quite the opposite though. I am extending an invitation. I would like to help you with that. Now, were you thinking fin or fang in regards to protein for this meal? It seems we have simpler choices to make this time around. But something tells me it won’t always be that way. Darkness looms on the horizon, and I have the feeling that something sinister might be readying itself just out of view.”

V gave him an apprehensive look, unsure as to what to really say to that. This entire conversation had certainly changed his outlook on a few things, to say nothing of how it had nearly taken a turn for the worst. He needed ample time to think things through. He was used to being the logical, level-headed one in situations like this. Something about that conversation had severely taken him out of his element, But at least a few of his questions had been answered, even if more now lingered in the back of his mind. And more importantly, there hadn’t been a public display of supernatural violence that could have destroyed both of them and the building along with them.

Sighing gently as if to physically rid himself of the toxic experience he had just suffered through, V looked at Sirrus, the both of them somehow knowing that the other regretted what had almost just happened even without saying it. It was best to leave things alone for now and just leave this store. Maybe the building itself was driving them both insane. “Fang.”

(-~-)

Gosh, writing this chapter makes me want to work on the story that I’ve been wanting to write for so long now. But not yet! I don’t pick projects up easily after I walk away from them, so for now, I will wait. There is still much to be done with this AU, but gosh writing Sirrus gets me in the mood for that. Let’s just say he doesn’t originate from this AU universe.

Here is the link to the form! It’s only 4 questions and should take about two minutes to answer. Thank you! You’re a big help to me. I want it to be clear that I’m not making anything from this fic, I just want to do something neat for charity and give you something cool in return.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jD0AKYiX3EfLjt-M_Rk8CapJ0GdzVqB-9oDMhV3SG2A/edit?usp=sharing

Sorry for my rambling this week! I’m just excited, I guess! Also, a special thank you to the like 2 people on Tumblr that like my chapters every week. I like your energy =^~^=

#Hiraeth #V #Vitale #Devil May Cry AU #Sirrus #DMC #DMC5 #Post DMC5

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hookedonapirate · 4 years

Text

Mis Fix-It

Summary: Miracle worker. Relationship Guru. Savior.

Those are just a few of her monikers, but most people have taken to call her Miss Fix-It. Helping broken-hearted women get back together with their former boyfriends is her specialty. How does she do it, you ask? Simple—she becomes his date from hell so he’ll realize what a catch he had before he let her go.

Emma Swan is an expert at fixing relationships, it’s just too bad she’ll never have one of her own.

Her particular set of talents is put to the test, however, when a cheating ex-girlfriend requests her services. Emma’s reluctant at first. It’s not an easy task to make someone seem like a catch when they’ve cheated, but the potential client is an emotional wreck desperate to get her former boyfriend back before he heads back to England. Besides, Emma Swan never backs down from a challenge. They don’t call her Miss Fix-It for nothing. She’ll find a way to make him wish he was back in his ex-girlfriend’s arms, no matter what it takes. If only she can squash the feelings she develops for him and stop breaking her rules.

A/N: I know, I know, I shouldn’t be starting any more stories, but I was rewatching a movie I saw a long time ago, starring David Boreanaz, called Mr. Fix-It and I had to write my own version of it. I also did a gender swap because David’s character was just too Emma Swan to not write it that way. So this is pretty much My Best Friend"s Girl meets How to Lose a Guy in 10 days. I was originally going to write this for Captain Swan Movie Marathon, but I just couldn’t help myself or wait to share it! Some of the ideas in the story regarding relationships and love may seem stretched for the purposes of this fic, so please keep in mind, this is only fiction.

A big shout out to @ultraluckycatnd for beta reading and to @onceuponaprincessworld for letting me share my ideas with her!

Also available on: AO3 l FF.N

Catch up: Ch 1

Chapter 2

“You’re sure you don’t mind watching it again? I heard it’s one of the scariest movies of all time.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s the scariest, but it’s definitely scary. I can handle it,” Emma says confidently into the phone as she pulls into the parking lot of her friend’s apartment building. “Can you?”

“Are you kidding? I love scary movies. I was thrilled you suggested it for our date. If I get too scared though, I wouldn’t mind you wrapping your arms around me to comfort me,” he says in a flirty tone.

Emma rolls her eyes and forces a laugh. “Believe me, after the dressing room scene, you’ll need to be held.”

“Really? What happens during the dressing room scene—actually, don’t answer that. No spoilers.”

“I promise, no spoilers.”

“Okay, do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, that’s okay, I’ll just talk your ear off in the car.”

He chuckles. “Hey, I don’t mind. I like a woman who speaks her mind. My ex was always so quiet and reserved. She never told me what she was thinking and it drove me nuts. I’m not a mindreader.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that with me,” Emma claims, suppressing a mischievous tone as she shuts off the engine. “I don’t mind making a little noise. Or a lot of noise when necessary,” she adds in a seductive tone. “I do have to warn you, though, I can get a little too vocal at times.”

“Are you kidding? I love a vocal woman. It means she’s not afraid to express herself. You can get vocal with me anytime, baby doll.”

Emma can hear him winking over the phone and has to refrain from rolling her eyes again, or vomiting, as she gets out of the car and slams the door shut. They haven't been on one date yet and he’s already calling her baby doll. “I’ll meet you at the cinema, say 7:15?”

“Great. Can’t wait. See you then.”

“I can’t either.” This will be the second time today she’s been to the cinema to see this damn movie. In fact, she just came from there, but hey, she has to be prepared for tonight. “I’m looking forward to our date,” she exclaims promptly, striding down the walkway to the apartment building while forcing a small smile to make her enthusiasm sound believable. A smile that immediately disappears once she ends the call and throws the phone in her purse. Her grandmother always said, people can hear a smile through the telephone, so always greet them with a smile. She was referring to business calls, especially when she was dealing with tenants of either rental houses or apartment buildings she owned, who couldn’t (or didn’t like to) pay their rent on time. In this case, however, it's a business call her grandmother would’ve never imagined if she were still alive. Emma sashays up the porch steps, and as she enters the key code to the building, her phone dings in her purse. She opens the door while digging into her bag to retrieve it.

MM: Are you here yet?

Emma rolls her eyes, a smile lighting up her face, and this time it’s a genuine one, despite being slightly annoyed. She’d just talked to her friend ten minutes ago on her way here, but Mary Margaret said she had some big news to share, and that woman can only withhold information for so long. Especially if she’s super excited, which is how she sounded over the phone. Emma looks up briefly to see the elevator doors sliding open before her eyes quickly return to her screen. She starts typing a message as she races to the elevator before it closes again.

“Ooof.” Her phone falls from her hands and hits the carpeted floor of the lobby as she slams into a solid mass.

Strong hands are gripping her arms to keep her from falling and she looks up, her gaze connecting with the most drowning, most mesmerizing, most beautiful deep ocean blue eyes she's ever seen in her life. She feels like the wind has been knocked out of her lungs, but it’s not because of the collision.

“Easy, love.” A smooth British accent fills her ears, tearing her from the hypnotic trance she’s in.

It’s not until she peels her eyes from his when she notices the charming grin gracing a pair of perfectly soft, exquisite looking lips. She also notices he’s standing in the elevator entrance to keep the doors from closing. Even when he releases her arms to bend over and pick something up from the floor, he kicks back his foot to hold the doors open. After he rises, he places a firm hand on the elevator entrance while her phone is extended to her with the other hand.

Right. Her phone. She had temporarily forgotten she had dropped it during the collision.

“Uh… sorry, I...” she stutters as she takes the device, her heart fluttering as her fingertips lightly brush his. She shakes her head to get a grip on reality again because for some goddamn reason, her voice decided to betray her. But maybe it’s because she has a modest-sized list of qualities she finds attractive in a man, and his distinguishable qualities have so far checked all of her boxes.

Blue eyes that rival the beauty of the ocean. Check.

A heart-melting (or panty-melting, or in this case both) smile. Check.

Sexy British lilt. Check.

Messy dark hair that looks like he’s just been thoroughly fucked while remaining picture perfect. Check.

Cologne with a hint of spice that she can detect as she passes him to step onto the elevator; it’s a subtle fragrance, yet very enticing. Check.

A gentleman based on the assumption that he’s been holding the door open for her since he saw her rushing for the elevator. Check.

Scruff on his chin that she imagines would feel amazing on her lips (or between her thighs). Check, check and check.

“Thank you. I guess I shouldn’t be texting and walking,” she says with a strangled laugh as she presses the button of her floor, watching it light to avoid getting lost in his eyes again. To ignore the butterflies in her stomach. Which is stupid because she never gets intimidated by men. She has a mile-high fortress surrounding her heart and she prefers to keep it that way.

“Aye, that might be a good idea,” he chuckles, scratching behind his ear in a rather adorable manner as he casually leans against the elevator gate. And of course, his laugh is so fucking sexy, she has to add it to her list.

His gaze flickers to the lit-up button and back to her eyes as he lifts a curious brow. “What unit are you heading to?”

“What are you, a stalker?” she accuses as she crosses her arms over her chest.

“Just curious is all,” he answers, raising his hands defensively. "You’re going to the same floor I came from. If I were a stalker, I wouldn't be a very good one, considering I asked you where you lived instead of sneaking around and following you, now would I?"

Emma opens her mouth to respond, but before she gets the chance, her phone is dinging in her hand as another incoming text from Mary Margaret appears, reminding her she never finished replying to the previous message.

MM: You must still be driving so don't respond. See you soon!

Emma laughs and shakes her head, holding up her phone screen to the handsome stranger. “This is why I was texting while walking. I swear my friend has a mini heart attack whenever I don't respond right away. Even though her apartment is where I'm heading,” she adds, vaguely answering his question.

He glances at the screen briefly before meeting her gaze again, and she turns the phone around and lowers it in front of her again.

“Ah, I see. Guess you should go then. Wouldn't want her to have a heart attack on my account.”

She glances at the elevator entrance he's still leaning against. "Might be easier if you stepped back so the doors can close.”

“Right. My apologies, love,” he says with a bashful smile, his cheeks painted with a slight blush. “As you wish.” With that, he steps back into the lobby, letting the doors slide shut.

Her eyes are locked with his until the doors are completely closed, and even then, she’s still staring at the doors as though trying to burn a hole in them with her laser stare. She immediately feels a pang of regret from no longer being able to drown in those ocean blue eyes.

Emma blinks a few times to pull herself back to reality. The one where she’s very single and very much not looking for a man. Men are trouble, and that’s all they’re good for.

The elevator reaches the eleventh floor and Emma steps off, heading to Mary Margaret’s apartment before she receives another text from her friend.

She uses her key to enter the apartment and finds Mary Margaret sitting across from her boyfriend, both of them drinking what Emma only assumes is hot cocoa with whip cream and cinnamon. See, that’s what normal couples are supposed to do. Not sitting on the same side of the table. Mary Margaret and David may not be married, but they sure act like they are.

“Hi, Emma,” David greets her warmly, causing Mary Margaret to spin her head around.

“Oh good, you’re here!” The brunette springs up from her seat and goes around the table. She takes her boyfriend’s hand and tugs him toward the living room, practically bouncing up and down as she directs Emma to the sofa, looking like she’s about to combust at any moment. “Have a seat, Emma, there’s something we have to tell you.”

Emma narrows her eyes warily as she makes her way to the couch.

“Sit, sit, sit!” Mary Margaret chants in excitement as she and David stand in the center of the living room, waiting for Emma to have a seat.

Emma lifts a brow and quickly sits down. “What’s going on? Did the Evil Queen and Wicked Witch finally move out?”

Mary Margaret’s exuberant smile dims, but only slightly. “I wish.”

Regina and her sister, Zelena, live in the unit directly below them, and every time they hear so much as a footstep above them, Zelena has a broom in her hand, banging on the ceiling with the end of the stick, and Regina is always calling the cops when she hears music; and not even loud music at that, but the walls are paper-thin. Any day they don’t pay Mary Margaret or David a visit about the noise is a very rare and very good day. Hence the monikers, Evil Queen and Wicked Witch.

“No, actually, it’s even better than that,” Mary Margaret beams as she and David exchange adoring looks before reverting their eyes to Emma.

“Okay, what is it?” she laughs. Her friends' excitement is contagious.

Mary Margaret holds up her left hand and wiggles her fingers. “We’re engaged!”

Emma’s mouth falls open in excitement as she sees the gold band holding an emerald green stone. She's not shocked though, only surprised that it didn't happen sooner. She knew they would tie the knot one day, she just wondered how long they’d be able to wait.

Emma jumps up from her seat and takes Mary Margaret's hand, studying the engagement ring. "It's so beautiful." She draws each of them into a big hug. “Oh my God, I’m so happy for both of you!”

Mary Margaret lets out the huge sigh she had apparently been holding. “Phew, it feels so good to get that off my chest. I thought I was going to explode.”

“I know,” David and Emma say simultaneously.

“Jinx, poke you owe me a coke!” they both say.

“Ha, I said it first,” Emma teases, pointing at him.

“Only by a millisecond.”

“Alright, you two,” Mary Margaret laughs. “Now that we got that out of the way, I wanted to ask you if you would be my maid of honor, Emma.”

“Of course I will!” Emma replies enthusiastically and hugs Mary Margaret again.

“Oh, I’m so glad! And you know you have to bring a date to the wedding, right?” Mary Margaret adds as they break the hug.

Emma frowns. “Do I have to?”

“Emma, come on, it wouldn’t kill you to go out and meet a guy for once.”

“I do go out. In fact, I have a date tonight.”

Mary Margaret scolds her. “Okay, one, you were hired to date him and two, our engagement dinner is tonight at 7:30 at the Radisson Plaza.”

“Oh, well I can reschedule the date for tomorrow then,” Emma assures them.

Mary Margaret sighs and shakes her head. “Emma, when are you going to stop trying to save relationships and start finding one for yourself, huh? You deserve to be happy, too.”

“I am happy.”

David crosses his arms over his chest and Mary Margaret places her hands on her hips.

“Are you really?” he asks.

“What are you, my parents?” Emma rolls her eyes and heads for the kitchen, her friends following behind her.

“We’re just worried about you, that’s all.”

Emma grabs a box of Cheez-Its and turns around, digging into the box to scoop up a handful.

“Emma, don’t eat too many, you’ll spoil your appetite,” David chides in a fatherly tone.

“Okay Dad,” she teases and looks at Mary Margaret, continuing their conversation. “I’m happy with the way things are, okay? Some people need true love to make them happy; I only need my two best friends, a roof over my head and a job that pays the bills. And I have a very fulfilling job at that. I get to be Superwoman and swoop in and save the day,” she says before shoveling the Cheez-Its in her mouth.

“Okay, but who’s going to save you?” Mary Margaret asks with a raised brow. “Even Superwoman needs saving from time to time. Besides, I’d hardly call getting paid to go on dates with unavailable men fulfilling. Why can’t you do something you actually enjoy, like flipping houses?”

“Okay, first of all, only I save me,” she mumbles through a mouthful of food, pointing a clean finger at her chest. “And secondly, I need money to flip houses. To make money, I need to be Miss Fix-It. To be Miss Fix-It, I can’t have a boyfriend. I mean, can you imagine me going on an actual date and the guy asking me what I do for a living? I can’t exactly tell the truth and say, I fix relationships, so if you see me on a date with another guy, don’t worry,” Emma says cheekily with a flick of her hand, “his girlfriend is paying me to go out with him. You cool with that?”

“No, you definitely can’t say that,” Mary Margaret shakes her head. “Which is all the more reason why you need to stop this, Emma,” she pleads, resting a gentle hand on Emma’s arm. “You know we support you and what you’re doing, but most importantly, we support your well-being.”

“I know, I know,” Emma sighs in exasperation, closing the box and pulling away from Mary Margaret to return it to the pantry. She sucks the powdered cheese remnants from her fingers before washing her hands. She’s heard her friend's spiel many times before. “Even if I did start dating, what makes you think I’m going to find my Prince Charming like you did?”

David grins and wraps his arm around Mary Margaret, kissing her temple. “She sure did.”

Mary Margaret blushes and smiles, turning her head to kiss his lips before looking at Emma again. “Look, if I can find love—hell if Ruby can find love—then so can you.”

Emma cocks a brow at her friend as she dries her hands with a hand towel from the rack. “Ruby has a boyfriend?”

“Yes, she does. They’ve been dating for four months now.”

Emma doesn't know much about the woman who lives down the hall, only that she tends to be a maneater, so Emma’s kind of surprised to hear she’s in a stable relationship. “Must be one hell of a guy.”

“Yes, from what I hear, he is,” Mary Margaret nods matter of factly.

“Believe me, I’ve heard too much,” David groans.

“You would get along famously with him, Emma,” Mary Margaret adds, ignoring her fiance’s comment. “He’s an architect. You won’t get to meet him tonight though, he had to work.”

Emma shrugs, unimpressed. “So, he’s an architect, big deal.”

Mary Margaret gently scolds her. “The point is, she’s happy. You can be, too.”

Emma turns from the sink, folding her arms over her chest. “Yeah, and how long would that happiness last for me? For five seconds—long enough to get my heart shattered into a million pieces? No thanks.” She turns to leave the kitchen.

“Emma, not all men are like Neal,” David says, stopping Emma in her tracks. She spins around to face them again.

“And not all relationships end with a broken heart,” Mary Margaret adds.

“Yes, they do,” Emma claims adamantly. “Even when someone is lucky enough to find their true love and live happily ever after, one of them will die first, eventually. People either leave a lonely life when they die or they leave their loved ones with a broken heart. Sound like happiness to you?”

“Emma…” David tries to get her to listen with a pained expression on his face, but Emma cuts him off.

“I’m sorry,” she sighs, glancing between them. “Today’s supposed to be a happy one. You just got engaged and I don’t want to spoil it or drag you two down with my miserable theories on love, okay? So can we just drop it?”

Mary Margaret offers a small smile and a nod. “Okay, sorry, Emma. We didn’t mean to make you upset. We just love you and we care about you, you know that right?”

“Of course I do,” Emma says with a frail smile. “I love you both, too.”

“Well, how about we all get ready for tonight. Are you sure you don’t mind changing your plans?” David asks.

Emma scoffs and waves off his question with a flick of her hand. “Please, how often do my two best friends in the world get engaged?”

“Well, hopefully once,” David chuckles.

Emma points a warning finger at them. “It better be only once because I can’t play Miss Fix-It for you, MM, since David here already knows me and my operation.”

Mary Margaret laughs and wraps her arms around the back of David’s neck. “You won't have to worry about that, Emma, trust me.”

David grins and wraps his arms around her, kissing her on the lips.

Emma sticks a finger in her mouth, making a gagging motion as she grabs her purse from the table with her other hand. “Okay, that’s my cue to leave,” she laughs. “I’ll be back at seven.” She doesn’t give them a chance to answer before she’s out the door.

~*~

“This movie is so great, you're going to love it,” Emma says enthusiastically as she walks with her date, holding a bowl of popcorn. “Thank you for paying for my ticket and the snacks.”

“It’s not a problem. I’m not against women paying, just to clarify, I just think it’s the gentlemanly thing to do, you know?”

“You’re definitely a gentleman, Greg, and I love that in a man,” she says, making him blush. “Can you hold this for a sec?” She shoves the bowl into his chest before he can answer.

“Sure,” he says with a chuckle, even though he’s already holding it.

Emma opens the box of Milk Duds and pours them over the popcorn. “You don’t mind, do you? I love to let the Milk Duds melt over the popcorn, it’s so good.”

“No, it’s fine. I told you, I like a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to voice it.”

Emma retrieves the bowl and starts munching on the popcorn before the chocolate gets a chance to melt. “Mmmm, I love how buttery this place makes their popcorn. It’s so good, don’t you agree?”

“I haven’t tried their—”

Before he gets a chance to finish, Emma shoves a few popcorn kernels in his mouth. “It’s good, right?”

“Mmhmm,” Greg answers with a nod as he covers his mouth and starts chewing.

“Thank you again for agreeing to reschedule the date,” she says as they make their way toward the theater their movie is playing in. “As I said, I couldn’t miss the engagement dinner, they’re my best friends.”

“I told you it’s no problem,” he says, waving off her words. “I wouldn’t want you to miss that.”

“Oh, I would never miss their engagement dinner, they're just so important to me. I’ve had friends before, but no one as loyal as them, and certainly no one willing to stick around as long as MM. She and I have been best friends since Kindergarten, and I have no idea what I would do without her. We do everything together. MM and I even lived together for five years,” Emma rambles on and on, even when they enter the theater. She looks over and has to fight off a smirk when she sees how slightly irritated her date is. She’s been talking his ear off since they met outside the theater. “Where would you like to sit? I really like the front row because I like being right in front of the action, but I also like sitting in the back because there’s more privacy,” she snorts and elbows him in the stomach, “if you know what I mean,” she winks at him.

“The middle’s fine,” he groans, rubbing his stomach like she had injured him, and they make their way to the middle, finding two available seats.

Her eyes widen in concern. “Oh, I didn’t hurt you, did I? Sometimes I forget how strong I am for my size. I work out at the gym—”

“I’m fine,” he says curtly, holding up his hand to silence her. “Let’s just sit, shall we?”

“Okay,” Emma says in mock defense and drops into her chair. “Oh, this just won’t do. We’re right under the vent and I’m afraid I’ll get too chilly. Can we move to the back?”

“Fine,” he grumbles through gritted teeth, and they get up and move to the last row.

Emma chews on her popcorn rather loudly and comments throughout the previews, saying things like, “Ooooh, that looks like a good one,” or “that looks so awful, I’ll be missing that one,” or she’ll joke and make fun of it and laugh hysterically, even when no one else is laughing.

She thought this particular job would be difficult for her, considering she’s no Chatty Cathy, but it feels rather freeing saying everything that comes to mind. Every time a thought enters her brain that might annoy him, she speaks it out loud.

When the movie begins, Greg leans in, whispering, “Okay, now it’s time to be quiet.”

Emma frowns at him, continuing to obnoxiously chew her popcorn as she faces the screen and slumps back in her chair.

She waits approximately five minutes, after the opening credits are over, until she starts talking again. “This movie is so scary,” she whispers loudly, her eyes fixed on the screen. “You’re gonna be on the edge of your seat the whole time.”

“Okay, let’s watch the movie,” he whispers back.

“Okay.”

She watches the film intently, even though she’s extremely bored. She just watched this movie two days ago, so she knows the surprises, she’s already experienced the spine chilling moments and most importantly, she knows who the mystery killer is. “Oh my God, that guy’s an asshole!” she shouts, throwing a couple of popcorn kernels toward the screen; they land in the hair of some lady, who’s completely unaware.

As Emma chokes back a laugh, she sees out the corner of her eye Greg cowering in his seat, burying his face in his hands. Whether he’s trying to hide his embarrassment or hiding his face so no one recognizes him, she’s not sure. She smirks briefly and grabs his wrist, pulling his hand away. “You’ve gotta see this part, it’s getting good.”

He lowers his other hand, sighing in exasperation, and she can tell he’s doing his best to maintain his composure.

The dressing room scene she told him about is close and she points at the murderer, unbeknownst to any first-time viewers when an onscreen actress invites him into her room. “Don’t trust him! He’s the killer!”

“Shhhhhh!” someone shushes her from a few seats ahead.

“You shush,” Emma mumbles and sits back with a scowl on her face.

The theater is silent again, other than the soft conversation from the movie, when the most suspenseful part is about to begin. Knowing this before any excitement happens during the scene, Emma springs to the edge of her seat and screams, “Ruuuuuun! He’s gonna slash your throat! Oh my God, run, Kelly, run!!!!”

~*~

“I can’t believe you got us kicked out of the theater!” Greg shouts when they reach her car.

He looks extremely pissed. For good reason.

Her eyes fill up with tears and her bottom lip quivers like she’s about to cry. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She turns around and starts sobbing in her hands. Or at least, she makes it look that way. In reality, she’s squirting her cheeks with water from an eyedropper to make it look like she’s crying.

He sighs and puts a gentle hand on her back. “Please, don’t cry. I just—I can’t…” he begins, fumbling for words.

After discreetly slipping the dropper back in her clutch purse, she wipes at her fake tears with her hand and turns around, glaring at him. “You can't what?”

He stares at her for a few seconds, apology flickering in his eyes. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry. You seem really great, but—”

“But what?” she demands, her sadness quickly replaced by anger.

“But you talk too damn much,” he answers bluntly.

Emma slaps him in the face. “You’re an asshole!” She spins on her heels and gets in her car.

“Wait, I’m sorry!” he shouts after her, but she slams the door in his face and starts the engine. He throws up his arms in defeat and walks away, giving Emma the opportunity to retrieve her phone from her purse and type out a text.

Emma: Go.

She peels away from the curb and heads down Maple Street, making a right-hand turn. She proceeds around the block and stops just before she reaches Maple Street again and pulls to the curb before parking and pulling out her binoculars. She watches as Tamara crosses the street several feet ahead. She watches as Greg’s face lights up when he sees his ex-girlfriend. They have a reunion hug and chat for a few minutes. He appears to be completely relieved and makes hand gestures and faces as he talks, like he’s telling her about his awful date as she listens intently, placing a consoling hand on his shoulder. They end up walking down the street, his arm around her as she rests her head on his shoulder.

Emma smiles in success as she lowers the binoculars, but her smile slowly fades. It’s so satisfying when she brings a couple back together, but honestly, it hurts like hell in the end. Watching the happy couple walk off into the sunset is a stark reminder of what she doesn’t have and probably never will. It’s a reminder of the large, gaping void in her heart.

Maybe Mary Margaret and David were right. If they can be happy, then why can’t she? Why does she always have to play Miss Fix-It? Why can’t she, for once in her life, have her own love story instead of fixing the ones other people had initially failed at? Emma sighs and trails away from the curb.

Maybe someday.

For now, she wonders if she’ll ever see the hot, British guy again. She curses herself for not getting his name. If she knew his name, then she could ask Mary Margaret and David if either of them know him, or whether he lives there or was just visiting one of the tenants at the time.

She hasn’t had sex in far too long, so maybe that’s why she’s feeling lonely. She’s not looking for love, just a good, satisfying fuck with a warm-blooded male. More specifically, with the hot British guy she ran into.

But who knows, maybe she’ll run into him again.

~*~

Two Months Later….

She still hasn’t seen the hot British guy since that day she bumped into him. Which is a shame because she’s so sexually frustrated, especially since she’s been fantasizing about him this whole time. She could easily invite some other guy to her bed, but she has a feeling the hot British guy is the only one capable of scratching her itch. He’s the only thing she’s craved for two damn months. Yes, hot, steamy sex, with the that man, her legs thrown around his hips, ginger scruff dragging along her neck as he drives into her is exactly what she needs right now. Emma bites her bottom lip and has to clench her thighs together just thinking about it as the elevator ascends to the eleventh floor. She hears the ding when it stops, and the doors slide open.

She goes to Mary Margaret’s apartment, wondering what to expect. All she said in the text was,

MM: Can you come over? It’s an emergency.

At first, Emma had panicked and replied back, expressing her concerns, but Mary Margaret assured her she and David were fine and that it wasn’t a life or death situation. She still wouldn’t divulge any information other than that.

When Emma uses her key to unlock the door, she finds Ruby crying on the sofa with Mary Margaret’s arms around her, trying to console her.

“What happened?” Emma asks in concern as she sets her bag on the end table by the door.

“Ruby was dumped,” Mary Margaret answers as she strokes Ruby’s hair.

The sobs only grow in volume and intensity, and she’s visibly shaking as her friend tries to calm her.

“It’s okay, Rubes, everything will be okay,” Mary Margaret coos.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Emma offers her condolences as she approaches the couch.

Mary Margaret tilts her head toward the other side of the sofa. “Emma, please have a seat.”

“Okay,” she says skittishly and takes a seat next to Ruby. She’s not sure why Mary Margaret invited her here at this time, considering she doesn’t know Ruby very well. She’s really only spoken to her a few times since she moved into the apartment building last year. “So, um… if you don’t mind me asking… why did he break up with you?” she asks Ruby.

Ruby lifts her head from Mary Margaret's shoulder and wipes away her tears with a Kleenex. She blows her nose before shifting in her seat to turn toward Emma, her eyes red and swollen with mascara running down her cheeks. “Because I’m an idiot.” She bursts into a fit of tears again and buries her face in her hands. Emma places her palm on the woman’s back, moving her hand in soothing circles as she glances up at Mary Margaret, who’s torn expression sends an uneasy feeling to Emma’s gut. Something tells her she shouldn't have asked. “It’s okay, you can tell me…”

Ruby sniffles and dabs her cheeks with the tissue. “Well, um… I did something really dumb, Emma. I mean, this guy was so fucking perfect and I royally screwed things up with him.” Ruby shakes her head, resting her hands in her lap as she stares at the tissues she’s holding.

Emma’s not sure what she’s expecting. Maybe Ruby got too jealous or clingy or maybe she lied about something huge. Considering her history, Ruby doesn’t seem like the type of woman who would try to rush the guy into marriage or having kids, so it probably wasn't that. In fact, maybe that’s why the guy dumped her. Maybe he proposed, she said no and he didn’t want to be with someone who wasn’t ready to settle down with him.

“Come on, whatever you did couldn’t have been that bad,” Emma coaxes softly, but she has a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Oh it is, trust me. And now his roommate says he’s moving back to England once his lease is up.”

Wow, he’s fleeing the country to get away from her? Okay, maybe it’s worse than Emma thought.

Ruby sucks in a sharp breath and tells Emma the one thing that could possibly make her stomach churn, the memories of her own failed relationship hitting her like a tidal wave. “He caught me in bed with someone else.”

Oh.

Okay, Emma was wrong; it’s way worse than she thought. The expression on her face must be saying way too much because after Ruby catches the look on her face, she bursts into tears again. Emma politely extends her arms to Ruby, even though it’s very difficult for her to feel sorry for this woman, considering she was once cheated on, herself. Her blood burns as she thinks of her cheating bastard of an ex-husband. She sure as hell would never take him back. Not in a million years.

She’s towed from her unpleasant thoughts when Ruby starts wailing so loudly, she’s sure the Wicked Witch and Evil Queen can hear her.

“Oh God, what have I done?! I cheated on Killian!”

A/N: So far readers have said they’re surprised by who Killian’s girlfriend is because they thought it would be Milah, but there is a particular reason for my madness, I promise. You’ll see later on...

#cs ff #captain swan #miss fix-it #my fic

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rifthy · 3 years

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Soundpeats Sonic Review TWS Earbuds: Another Great One From Soundpeats?

Hey Lovely Peoples, In this review we’re checking out the brand new Soundpeats Sonic TWS Review. Every time we check out a Soundpeats product, they always kind of prove that they can give you a lot for your money, and Soundpeats Sonic TWS pair honestly their most polished product overall.

It comes in at around $50. When we talk about the features mixed with the sound, you’ll see why the $50 price tag might be a steal for Soundpeats Sonic.

Let’s jump into the Soundpeats Sonic Review…

Find The Soundpeats Sonic earbuds at great price here.

Discussed Topics

Soundpeats Sonic : Design and Build

Features

Soundpeats Sonic : Controls

Soundpeats Sonic : Sound

Soundpeats Sonic : Battery

Call Quality

Conclusion

Soundpeats Sonic : Design and Build

To start with the Soundpeats Sonic Review, these are a slightly different color; usually, Soundpeats products come in black this is a silver kind of mixed with rose gold. It doesn’t look as over the top with the rose gold as other products.

I usually think when a product goes overboard with rose gold, it tends to look girly, but these look very good. It just kind of has a different look altogether.

Now moving over to look at the earbuds, like I said, I think these have a more distinguished look than some of the other Soundpeats product

I want to point out that the earbuds logo lights up once they’re turned on and when they’re in pairing mode.

However, they do shut off whenever you’re playing any audio out of it, so you don’t have to worry if you’re using them in bed. That light will glow the whole room as long as you’re listening to something that light will not come on. I appreciate that they made that decision

Design

4/5

Features

As far as the technology that these come in with Bluetooth 5.2. They’re rocking a Qualcomm 3040 chip, and they have Apt-X adaptive now; this allows for high-res audio, and it cuts down on the latency.

These also have a game mode, which cuts down on the latency, and it also cuts down on having stutters or hiccups when it comes to the connection. This is a very solid stable connection.I haven’t experience any dropouts.

They do also have AAC playback for guys that are using Apple devices, and improving the connection overall, it’s using the TWS mirroring so one earbud mirrors the other’s connection,

These do come in rated at IPX5, so this is not a completely waterproof pair, but it’ll be fine against rain splashes, or if you sweat heavily because from what I can tell on their site, this pair is more geared towards an active lifestyle.

If you’re looking for a pair for the gym, that IPX5 rating will definitely help.

Features

4.5/5

Soundpeats Sonic : Controls

The controls on here are using button controls, and I’m happy to say that you have control over everything. These have play, pause skipping your tracks forward, going backward, and even volume control all on the earbuds themselves.

As I mentioned earlier, these do have a gaming mode so that you can control that from the earbud, and that cuts down on any lag if you’re going to be using these for gaming or movies.

That’s a plus but do know that will eat some of your battery life. Those who like to use your earbuds individually, you’ll be happy to know that you can use either the left or the right earbuds individually.

Another thing that they did right is when you’re using one earbud it switches over into mono mode so all of your audio will come out of that one earbud. It’s not going to feel like you’re missing anything from the other earbud

Controls

5/5

Soundpeats Sonic : Sound

Let’s talk about the sound.

The sound on these is incredible, especially if you’re somebody that likes a dynamic sound and you’re somebody that enjoys hearing and feeling bass because these things are base cannons.

I haven’t heard bass presents like this out of a pair this inexpensive. The presence of bass is very booming, but the plus here is, it doesn’t drown anything else out because the mids have a nice natural tone to it. The treble is tuned to be pretty bright.

I think they did that on purpose because the bass is so overpowering. The treble is tuned up in a way that if you’re going to listen to these at higher volumes, sometimes it can seem a little too harsh.

This is fun as long as you’re not listening at max volume because it just has a nice balanced out sound with a bright treble, a boomy bass and mids never get lost in the mix, so it just sounded great with all genres

Obviously, Pop and Hip Hop more genres that are geared towards bass will sound best with this Soundpeats Sonic earbuds, but it didn’t get muddy with metal. It didn’t seem to get lost when it comes to more chaotic music, which is impressive not only because this is a boomy earbud.

Now, as far as the sound stage and the sound imaging, this is not the most open sounding earbud that I’ve heard. I still think it does a pretty good job with this, but I would say it makes you feel like you’re more into a medium to large size room.

I had no issues with being able to tell where instruments and where sounds were coming from.

This is really an impressive TWS earbud at this price point

Sound

5/5

Soundpeats Sonic : Battery

Battery life is hands down some of the best that I’ve seen on a pair of truly wireless earbuds because you’re getting around 15 hours on a single charge on the earbuds.

Now the case does give you two full charges, so you’re going to get around 45 hours total, and to me, I think that’s very good, the 15 hours on the earbud itself is very impressive.

The case is not a Qi wireless charging case. You have USB Type C input for charging on the back, and that’s the only way you can charge these.

Next to that, you have an indicator light, and that lets you know that you’re charging because, underneath the lid, you have another indicator light, which allows you to gauge how much battery life is left on the case.

Battery

5/5

Call Quality

Now, as far as the microphones on here, I think they did a decent job. They are using CBC technology; it’s trying to focus on your voice and block out your surroundings.

I do notice that my vocals sound a little bit muffled when on phone calls.

This is an okay pair of TWS Earbuds for a Phone call but not a great one to consider if you are looking solely for Phone Calls.

Call Quality

3.5/5

Conclusion

In conclusion, overall, this is an excellent pair to listen to now. As far as my cons with these, I really only have two,

I wish it had QI wireless charging, which is solely because it’s something that I’ve gotten used to.

My only other complaint is I think some people might want these to work with an app. You can EQ the app to pull down the bass if you are not a bass head.

I would not recommend these because they are booming earbuds. I think they’re geared towards using them for workouts and outdoors. That boomier base definitely comes into play.

Soundpeats sonic earbuds are excellent TWS Earbuds for their quoted price.

Let me know your experience on this one

Find The Soundpeats Sonic earbuds at great price here

Our Rating

4.7/5

More interesting reviews at ehnocord.com

Anker Soundcore Life Q30 Review

Soundpeats TrueEngine 3 SE Review

#soundpeats #soundpeats sonic #audio #wireless #wireless earbuds

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brookeandrylee · 4 years

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Chapter One

Ry walked up the steps towards the communications building on campus. She’d always wondered why they had such a big building for such a useless subject. As she climbed the steps, she counted every time her feet hit another slab of cracked concrete. Seven...eight...nine...she counted silently. So many stairs for such a purposeless task.

Ry was never the type to seek out extra credit, she hardly did the regular credit assignments. Sixteen.....seventeen....eighteen....But this professor seemed genuinely interested in her and how she was doing in the class. Ry didn’t really know why, but something about this professor made her want to impress her. Prove to her that Ry’s not a slacker. Thirty one......thirty two.....thirty three....Show her who’s boss.

As Ry reached the top of the steps, she wondered what the extra credit would consist of. ‘She can’t be offering extra credit just for coming’, Ry thought to herself. ‘Then everyone would just show up. There wouldn’t be any opportunity for one on one interaction.’

She entered the communications building and made her way toward Professor Fields’ office, sighing at the idea of having to interact with other humans.

“Hi, Brooke!” she chirped as she forced a smile on her face

Brooke was seated in her small but cozy office suite, there was a dark wooden desk with an orange upholstered chair. The curtains were drawn, it was lit only by a dim stained glass lamp and the small overhead light. Brooke preferred lower light, as she got headaches often.

The professor was adjusting her glasses when she heard a light tap on the door, the heavy wood swung open a moment later. It was Rylee, one of her more... difficult to reach students. It wasn't that she was dumb, she just didn't seem to want to try. Brooke understood, she was used to kids not taking communications classes seriously. That's why she offered the ones who didn't do the work extra credit. Sometimes you just need someone to show you they're on your side.

Brooke’s hair was in a lose bun, her glasses reflected her computer screen, it appeared she was watching some sort of ted talk. A warm smile graced her features, she stood to shake Rylee's hand, leaning over the desk slightly.

"I'm so glad you decided to show up! It's really great to see you taking initiative in your education." She spoke, her tone was kind and encouraging.

Ry begrudgingly sat down, watching Brooke’s gaze as she moved. “Yeah...um, thanks. So what exactly are we doing today?” Ry asked. She peered around the office, looking at the books that were exceptionally free of dust and the blinds that hung from the windows whose strings were far too long for their size. “I guess I’m just a little confused is all.”

"Oh! Well that's easy" she smiled and waved her hand dismissively.

"I just thought we could talk about how you feel the class is going and maybe what I can do to improve? I've noticed you don't seem too keen on participating and I want to know what I can do as an educator to make this class more enjoyable."

Her smile was soft, but her eyes held a bit of excitement. She seemed genuinely interested in what the girl’s opinions and suggestions might be. She leaned over on the desk, the buttons on her white blouse strained ever so slightly when she did so.

Ry glanced at Brooke, looking her up and down. She had never had a professor so interested in their students before. At least not her. She tapped her pencil a few times against her lower lip before leaving it there while she thought.

“I don’t know, it’s just not really a subject I’m interested in. I mean...how hard can it be to communicate? I just don’t understand the need to take a class in it.”

Ry looked at Brooke, hoping to get a read on what she wanted to hear, but her focus shifted downward to the front of Brooke’s shirt. Her eyes darted back to the bookcase when she realized that she was looking for too long.

"Well I mean there's plenty of ways communication happens everyday that we dont immediately think about. Like nonverbal signals, body language, eye contact." She shrugged.

"But also written or vocal things like subcontext and tone, or double entendre... there's plenty of things we as a species use to communicate. And picking up on those signals makes us effective communicators." She gestured to Ry.

"Like I can tell right now that you're somewhat uncomfortable, because of your posture, and the way you aren't looking at me." She observed...

"So what can you gather from my body language and signals?"

“Oh, um...I don’t know...”, Ry trailed off, trying to think. She looked at Brooke. The way she was sitting forward in her seat, resting on the edge of it, arms sat out on the desk, in crossed. Ry looked into Brooke’s glistening brown eyes and focused.

“I guess you seem interested and...” Ry smirked and tried to stifle her laugh. She eyed Brooke’s messy bun and cuffed jeans. Ry thought back to the books in the shelf. Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Audre Lorde..She wasn’t sure Brooke wanted to hear it, but ‘nonverbal communication’ was telling Ry that she might be gay.

Brookes head tilted to the side in curiosity. "And...?" She trailed off, hoping to get the girl to finish her thought. "Don't be shy I can take it" she said playfully, pushing a piece of he hair behind her ear.

Ry smirked and shot her eyes away, looking almost like she was rolling them. She put her tongue in her cheek and gently brought it across her lips.

“Well, I’d say you’re interested and um...gay...or at maybe bisexual....but that’s just based on what I see.”

Ry tried to start back pedaling, immediately regretting what she had said, not wanting to offend Brooke. She really needed to pass this class and the last thing she needed was for Brooke to rescind her extra credit offer.

Brooke blushed slightly. Ry had caught her off guard, as most people wouldnt notice something like that without knowing what to look for.

"Is it that obvious?" she chuckled, scratching the back of her neck. "But yeah, guilty. Came out in high school" she seemed a little uncomfortable talking about this with a student, but considering it was just Ry, it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Just out of curiosity... what gave me away?" She joked

Ry was surprised. She didn’t think Brooke was actually gay, let alone would admit it.

She giggled and nodded towards the bookshelf. “Virginia Woolf? You can’t be serious!” She laughed. “If you wanted it to be a secret, that’s not exactly helping your cause.

“And not to mention..” Ry lifted her left leg so it sat at a right angle across her right knee while she pointed to her cuffed jeans. “Twins”. She said either a sly smirk.

Ry smiled. She saw Brooke as more of an equal now. And it wasn’t that she didn’t think that she was an equal before, but now she felt...attainable. Like a real person with feelings and flaws and...appeal. Ry had never really noticed before, but Brooke was hot. It wasn’t that she wasn’t before, she definitely was. But now that she knew that she was gay, the rules changed a little.

Brooke was letting her guard down slightly. There wasn't a lot of queer activity on campus, which had kept her from feeling comfortable being out around colleagues and students. But Ry was in the same boat, which made her feel more comfortable.

"Somehow I'm not surprised" she laughed at the jeans. "And what can I say? I like my women to be bad ass. If you're ever looking for feminist lesbian authors, read about Audre lorde and her uses of the erotic. Changed my life,” she said simply. She was probably oversharing or being too forward at this point. But Ry didn't look uncomfortable, and it was still professional, so she let it slide.

“I’ve actually read some of her work.” Ry nodded and smiled. It actually felt like she was getting somewhere with Brooke. Like things were almost...friendly. Ry watched as Brooke’s shoulders began to relax and her eyes grew wider. “Huh,” she thought to herself. “I guess you can tell a lot from body language.”

Ry thought of what she could say that would push Brooke a little further.

“But I’m not extremely familiar with what you’re discussing. The erotic? I can’t imagine writings being ‘life changing’ for something so...personal. Especially not a ‘bad ass woman’ like me.” Ry laughed and winked, trying to make it feel like a joke.

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imagitory · 5 years

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D-Views: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Bonjour, mes amies! Welcome, bienvenue, to another installment of D-Views, my written review series for films produced or inspired by the Walt Disney company! For more reviews for films like Enchanted, Star Wars Episode III, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, feel free to consult my “Disney reviews” tag, and please, if you enjoy this review or any of the others, please consider liking and reblogging! I look forward to writing more of these in the future for films like Wreck-It Ralph and Halloweentown, as well as Non-Disney films like Charlotte’s Web.

I recently put out a poll suggesting three Disney Renaissance films for possible review subjects, and although The Little Mermaid won that poll, this film ended up not far behind. (Thank you, @schifty-al and @mygeekcorner for your votes!) It’s one of my personal favorite Disney films of all time...The Hunchback of Notre Dame!

Victor Hugo’s classic novel Notre Dame du Paris, called The Hunchback of Notre Dame in English, seems like a very odd inspiration for a Disney animated family film, and that’s because...yeah, it is! When the Disney animators first brought Hunchback to the table, they were less inspired by the original Hugo novel glamorizing the architecture of Notre Dame cathedral, and more inspired by a graphic novel adaptation of the story, which was likewise much more influenced by the 1939 Hollywood film adaptation. Because of the historical context that 1939 adaptation was made in (premiering at Cannes during the rise of the Third Reich), themes of social justice were added to a story that originally was about how the “edifice” can outlast the flaws and sins of mankind. The “social justice” element is something that Hugo interestingly put more in his follow-up to Notre Dame du Paris, the epic brick book Les Miserables, but has since been similarly tied in the public consciousness to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, despite not existing in the original book.

The project was already an odd choice for Disney to take on thanks to the darkness of the book, but the political themes also were unique for a Disney picture as well. It clearly was a more “adult” endeavor, even though thanks to the success of previous projects like Aladdin and The Lion King, there were studio mandates demanding more comic relief, and even the marketing team was reluctant to advertise Hunchback as anything other than a family film. Rather than showing the artistry and darker scenes, the marketing almost entirely focused on the Feast of Fools and the gargoyles, highlighting the “Ugly Duckling” aspect added to the story and downplaying the more adult themes. In the end, it’s likely thanks to those poor marketing choices and the inconsistent tone of the picture that this movie failed to find its audience on first run. It only earned $21 million worldwide, compared to Pocahontas’s $29 million and The Little Mermaid’s $84 million, with mixed critical and audience reaction. Although it was nominated for an Academy Award for its music and won several others, it was noticeably less successful than other installments in the Disney Renaissance, and even now, Disney often doesn’t give Hunchback that much attention. Like Quasimodo, the film has been sort of locked up in its own tower...but now, today, I aim to bring The Hunchback of Notre Dame out of the shadows and give it the appreciation it deserves.

Our film begins in complete darkness, accompanied by resounding church bells and the amazing vocalizations of the English Opera Company, and from the very beginning, I’m just enveloped by the embrace of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz’s unbelievable score. Choral music in general has always been something special in my family. My mum and dad were in choirs a lot of their lives: they even first met when they joined the San Diego Master Chorale in the 80′s. Choral music remains one of my mother’s greatest loves and passions, and when I saw Hunchback, it made the choral music my parents loved so much, which focused around a faith I hadn’t been raised with and didn’t believe in, that bit more accessible to me as a child. Mum, who studied Latin in college, went on to teach me about all of the chants and phrases Menken and Schwartz added to each song so that I could more appropriately sing along. It remains one of those Disney soundtracks that cemented our close bond, and I’ll always treasure being able to see the La Jolla Playhouse production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with my mum and getting to hear the amazing choir and instruments live.

The Bells of Notre Dame, as an opening number, cannot be matched in how it introduces us all to the story, characters, themes, and tone of the piece. In just a few minutes, the music and lyrics perfectly showcases our setting, the theme of what makes a man, the atmosphere of fear and injustice, our villain, and our hero. Menken and Schwartz previously worked together on Pocahontas, but Hunchback in my opinion easily outstrips their previous collaboration. The use of church bells of all sizes to convey the solemnity, mystery, and grandeur of the cathedral at the center of the proceedings, and the clever use of Latin phrases -- it’s just unbelievable! As one example, in the sequence where Frollo (a judge in this version, as opposed to the Archdeacon) chases Quasimodo’s mother up to the stairs of Notre Dame and she pounds on the door, crying for help, the choir sings “Quantus tremor est futurus quando Judex est venturus,” which means, “What trembling is to be when the Judge comes.” And sure enough, the line comes to a horrible, horrified halt when Judge Frollo snatches the woman’s child away and throws her to the ground.

After one of the most epic musical introductions in a Disney film, we meet our sweet, gentle hero, Quasimodo, voiced by Tom Hulce, who is just such a ray of sunshine. Although I loved hearing Michael Arden as Quasimodo on stage, Tom Hulce will always be my Quasimodo. When I was a teenager, I went through a horrible “hating the world” phase where I only ever saw pain and suffering and felt not only powerless to make anything better, but worthless as well. During that time, I turned my back on a lot of the things that had brought me joy, feeling almost unable to enjoy them anymore. One of the very few exceptions, however, was this movie and especially the character of Quasimodo. When I was at my darkest points, Quasimodo never failed to bring me some light, not because he was particularly funny, but because for all of the misery in his circumstances, he never faltered in being gentle, creative, and kind. Looking back on how I’d been, I wish I’d had just a shred of Quasimodo’s grace back then. I wish I hadn’t allowed myself to fall into despair and resentment. Since I can’t go back, however, I keep Quasimodo in my mind sometimes whenever I’m going through something difficult. He’s kind of become a guardian angel of sorts to me, reminding me that my life is a precious gift and I shouldn’t take anything for granted. And really, I couldn’t do that if not for Tom Hulce and Quasimodo’s supervising animator, James Baxter. I truly am grateful to both of them for giving me a character that even now can be a symbol of everything I wish I could be.

Unfortunately along with Quasimodo, we also meet the gargoyles, Hugo, Victor, and Laverne. As a kid, I actually liked the gargoyles all right, but as an adult...yeah, they really break the mood. Badly. The worst offender is easily Hugo, which is a shame because I like Jason Alexander as a performer, but he just goes way too over-the-top-obnoxious. It would admittedly not be as bad if it were clear that the gargoyles were all in Quasimodo’s head, but Djali sees Hugo come to life at one point and they later help Quasimodo fight off the guards. I greatly prefer the way the gargoyles are handled in the stage production, where all of the saintly statues have their own voices that nonetheless reflect what Quasimodo is thinking and when Quasimodo hits his lowest point before Esmeralda’s execution, he forcefully banishes them out of his head.

Even though the comic relief is handled poorly, I certainly cannot say the same for the villain. Judge Claude Frollo is easily one of the most evil villains in Disney history. Tony Jay’s vocal performance is just chillingly resonant, commanding your attention and making you subconsciously shrink in on yourself whenever he speaks. It makes for a despicable, cold, cruel man -- the antithesis of a father, the true embodiment of a monster. Frollo is often compared to Mother Gothel from Tangled in how they both lie to, control, and emotionally abuse their charges (Quasimodo and Rapunzel, respectively), but I personally find Frollo so much worse than Gothel, because he not only cuts Quasimodo off from everyone, but he indoctrinates a gentle, kind soul like Quasimodo in his racism and intolerance against those different from him -- including Quasimodo’s own people, the Romani. Mother Gothel hoards Rapunzel away like a dragon hoarding treasure -- Frollo treats Quasimodo like a burden, beating into him that no one else would want him and that Frollo was such a “good man” to take him in. It’s just vile.

And now we come to my single favorite Disney song of all time -- Quasimodo’s aria, Out There. From the time I was little, this song spoke to me like few others did. Growing up, I was an only child with a huge imagination surrounded almost entirely by adults and who had a lot of difficulty relating to kids my age. I often liked being on my own, but it didn’t change how I often felt different and detached from the people around me, and as I got older, that feeling only increased. I moved a lot in my childhood, making it difficult for me to plant roots, and I rarely followed trends or popular norms, so I constantly stayed in the fringes of the crowd, enviously looking on at those who could fit in more easily than I could. I always tried to hide my insecurities, but they were still there, and when those insecurities took hold, I would often imagine the world being a place where I could be myself, just like Quasi does. Quasimodo’s longing to be “part of them” and lamentation of people being “heedless of the gift it is to be them” has always resonated with me, and even though it’s hard for me to sing Out There without shifting octaves, my heart swells every time I hear it.

The Captain of the Guard, Phoebus, is easily the biggest liberty that Hunchback adaptations have made with the original novel. The book version of Phoebus was more like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast than how he’s portrayed here, but I frankly have no complaints. Kevin Kline is wonderfully dry and witty in the role -- he’s more than a match for Esmeralda, being brave, noble, and sarcastic with seemingly no prejudice for those different from him. And then yeah, as for Esmeralda herself...as Phoebus says later, “what a woman!” Esmeralda was one of my very favorite Disney heroines as a kid, and she still is. The character of Esmeralda is often rather saint-like in her incarnations, but here we see both the “angelic” and “demonic” sides of her -- she’s fiery, but kind; rebellious, yet noble; anti-authority, but patient; distrustful, yet loyal. In the musical adaptation, when Esmeralda is first revealed, we hear Frollo, Phoebus, and Quasimodo sing this about her --

Frollo: She dances like the Devil!

Phoebus: She dances like an angel --

Quasimodo: An angel!

Phoebus: -- but with such fire!

Frollo: Such fire!

All Three: Who is she?

This is Esmeralda’s characterization and her relationship to the three male main characters in a nutshell. Quasimodo only sees the best of Esmeralda; Frollo only sees the worst of her; and Phoebus sees her for everything she is...as a person. And this is why she ultimately chooses Phoebus, unlike in the book where she solely chooses Phoebus because of his looks.

When we reach the Palace of Justice, I’m reminded that I have yet to accent how absolutely stunning every single background is in this movie. Yes, the animation overall is wonderful, whether in the character animation or otherwise, but there are few Disney films that have more atmospheric and beautiful backgrounds than this. It serves to give the movie such a wonderful depth and makes the setting feel that much richer and deeper. Admittedly one weaker aspect of the animation is the now-slightly-outdated CG background characters. They were made by taking a handful of templates and then mixing up their clothes and colors, so as to multiply them ad infinitum and make the crowds of Paris look bigger and more colorful. Even with that, though, you do sort of have to look carefully at the background crowds to notice, as there are lots of hand-drawn characters sprinkled in in front of those CG models that help obscure their repetition and awkwardness. Those CG crowds also make the city of Paris look appropriately overcrowded and huge, so I’m glad that they used the technology even if it was still so in-progress at the time.

Even though Topsy Turvy starts off so fun and festive, however, it soon devolves into a terrible riot where Quasimodo is bound and tormented by the crowd. I admit, the transition is a little abrupt, but it still works for me, as people can be so easily swept away by mob mentality and those in power -- namely, Frollo’s guards -- sometimes flaunt their authority by putting down others. Fortunately Esmeralda is there to save Quasimodo and give Frollo a much-deserved verbal smackdown. The following scene, though, is another example of the mismatched tone, stretching out Esmeralda’s escape with a lot of comic “hijinks” that don’t really add anything to the film and kind of serve as a big time waster, especially after it abruptly cuts off and turns much more solemn and sad as Frollo silently confronts Quasimodo and Quasi returns to Notre Dame in shame.

Hunchback’s focus on religion is, in my opinion, one of the things that made producing an adaptation of Hugo’s novel such a bold decision. I’m not a religious person at all (Agnostic and proud), but it was still really meaningful to me to see both the good and bad associated with religion, represented by the Archdeacon and Frollo respectively. Frollo, along with Pharaoh Seti from The Prince of Egypt, taught me as a kid that evil is not always self-aware and, more importantly, how much more dangerous evil is when it garbs itself in godliness and righteousness. That’s a valuable lesson, regardless of your religious faith. God Help the Outcasts may invoke God’s name, but it could just as easily be a prayer to the world, or even just to you as an individual. The Christian faith preaches that we are made in God’s image...so when Esmeralda asks God to help her people, maybe she’s in truth asking you to try to be the loving God they need.

Something unique about Hunchback is the wonderful friendship that develops between Esmeralda and Quasimodo. From the time I was very little, I made friends with both boys and girls, so it was so wonderfully refreshing to see a story where a girl and a boy became such close friends and supported each other so much. Yes, admittedly, Quasimodo is romantically interested in Esmeralda, but when he sees how much she loves Phoebus, he both accepts their relationship and treasures Esmeralda’s friendship all the same. He doesn’t wallow in bitterness upon Esmeralda not choosing him; he loves her all the same as the first real friend he’s ever had. Esmeralda truly loves Quasimodo and treasures their friendship too -- her choosing Phoebus romantically is never framed as her teasing Quasimodo or leading him on; she simply loves Phoebus and Quasimodo in different ways. And that I find so unbelievably cool. I also like that in Esmeralda’s and Quasimodo’s conversation on the roof, there are some strains of the deleted song Someday in the instrumental accompanying the scene -- you can hear a R&B variation of Someday in the film’s credits, but originally it was meant to replace the more religious God Help the Outcasts, only for God Help the Outcasts to be chosen over it. I agree with the filmmakers’ decision, but I still like Someday too. Quasimodo’s helping Esmeralda and Djali escape Notre Dame by climbing down the towers also beautifully foreshadows Quasimodo’s dexterity in climbing down to save Esmeralda at the end of the film.

Quasimodo and Frollo are both enthralled with Esmeralda, but as mentioned previously, they each only see the angelic and demonic sides of her, which is best encapsulated by the dual numbers Heaven’s Light and Hellfire. Heaven’s Light is appropriately sweet and pure, but I can’t beat around the bush here: Hellfire steals the show, not just from Heaven’s Light but from all other villain songs in Disney history. The song starts with a choral chant praying for forgiveness, which then segways into Frollo’s demented, mad raving about his lust, fear, and hatred for Esmeralda. The words are almost terrifying in their level of conviction and paranoia, which then devolves into vindictive, destructive mania, framed by the mournful echoes for “mercy” from the choir.

Right after Hellfire, we get one of my favorite instrumentals on the soundtrack called Paris Burning. The choir’s bustling, dramatic cries trimmed by the tense strings and horns of the orchestra just evokes fear and horror as Frollo terrorizes Paris. Then Phoebus finally takes a stand, refusing to set fire to the miller’s house and then, after Frollo does it himself, leaping in to save the family from the flames. In the musical, this whole sequence is accompanied by the amazing musical number Esmeralda (which honestly, every fan of this movie should listen to, it’s really worth it), but the film handles it unbelievably well with only a short scene and an instrumental that sears the final “Kyrie Eleison” into the audience’s ears like a fire brand.

Sadly, after this amazing, epic sequence, we once again are subjected to tonal whiplash when we return to the bell tower and the gargoyles decide to sing Quasimodo a song to cheer him up. Although I maintain Hunchback has one of the best soundtracks ever recorded, what stops it from being flawless is this song. A Guy Like You is not an inherently bad song on its own, but when combined with the rest of the soundtrack, its melody, tone, and out-of-place pop cultural references are just ridiculously jarring. It’s like we’ve been transported into a completely different movie, one less inspired by a classic French novel and a critically acclaimed film about social justice and one more inspired by Disney hits of the day like Aladdin and later projects like Hercules. As sad as it is, it’s kind of a relief when it’s over and we’re brought back down to earth by Esmeralda carrying a close-to-death Phoebus into Quasimodo’s tower.

Frollo’s arrival after Quasimodo agrees to hide Phoebus is excellent in its suspense. We can sense Frollo’s suspicion, and all the while, we’re so worried for Phoebus hiding under the very table he and Quasimodo are sitting at. Then Frollo, who we’ve only ever seen as cold, conniving, and controlled, bursts into a rage the kind of which we’ve never seen before, and for a second, he’s a demon himself. After his rage is spent, he sets his cruelest, most terrible trap yet: using Quasimodo’s feelings for Esmeralda so that he can capture her and the rest of the Romani. And at first, Quasimodo almost doesn’t take the bait, thanks to a short-lived pang of self-pity. At first he’s bitter about his heart being broken and considers not helping Esmeralda, as there’d seemingly be no “reward” in him doing so...but the feeling is quelled in seconds by the memory of Esmeralda and how much her friendship means to him. Quasimodo’s selflessness and goodness wins out in its struggle with his more selfish instincts...and this, in the end, is what makes Quasimodo a hero in my eyes.

All right, I guess with our entrance into the Court of Miracles, I should address the elephant in the room. I’ve called Esmeralda’s people “the Romani” in this review, but throughout the entire film, the term is substituted for the admittedly-period-appropriate slur “Gypsy.” I knew nothing about the Romani culture when I first saw this film and I profess no intimate knowledge of it now, but even with that, I have to acknowledge that this movie doesn’t always showcase the Romani in the best light. Although Quasimodo’s parents, Esmeralda, and (to a degree) Clopin are given relative sympathy, the sequence in the Court of Miracles doesn’t do much to endear them to the audience. These victims of persecution are not really given the focus they deserve: we never learn much about their culture or about why they’re persecuted, and we don’t really get to see how they live their lives as ordinary people. To someone who doesn’t know anything about the Romani, I don’t think this film would be the best introduction to their culture and heritage.

Our climax is accompanied by the best instrumental track in the film, Sanctuary! Whenever I hear this piece, I have to stay completely silent, drinking in every single line and note, so as to properly absorb its brilliance. The track has accompanied a lot of my writing in the past: it’s always helped me when I was writing a powerful, emotional climax, whether through the emotion it wrought from me or just from wanting to write a new scene to the music. This entire sequence, from a musical, writing, animation, and character point of view, is I think what made Disney decide to make this film in the first place. The pacing -- the character animation of Quasimodo tearing down the pillars -- the drawn backgrounds of Notre Dame -- the camera whirling over the never-ending crowd’s heads and up onto the cathedral as Quasimodo hoists Esmeralda over his head -- this is the heart of why the movie was made and what the entire film was building up to. This resistance against injustice and the protection of our sacred, historical institutions from hatred and cruelty is what Hunchback is and should be all about. Occasionally this battle scene is inter-spliced with comic bits that once again aren’t really necessary and kind of stick out (Laverne’s Wizard of Oz reference and Hugo’s impression of a fighter plane in particular are out of place), but it doesn’t ruin anything for me. Fortunately as the climax grows darker with the arrival of Frollo and the transition from Sanctuary! into And He Shall Smite the Wicked, the gargoyles take a backseat, and we get focus where we should’ve always had it: on Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and Frollo. Thanks to his love for his friend Esmeralda and the realization of his own self-worth, Quasimodo finally stands up to Frollo and breaks free of his poisonous influence once and for all. This line of Quasi’s has always stuck with me --

“All my life you’ve taught me the world is a dark, cruel place...but now I see the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you!”

Even now this line is just so powerful. There was a point where all I saw of the world was its cruelties and injustices...but like Quasimodo, I’ve come to see that those cruelties are not inherent to the world or even to mankind as a whole. Humans are capable of both great evil and great good, but as long as the evil people of the world are allowed to seize control and exert their toxic influence over everyone else, the world and mankind overall will never become better. Like Quasimodo, we must stand against those who’ve embraced cruelty and hatred over acceptance and love. We must protect the brighter parts of the world that evil so wishes to snuff out. It’s a moral I think has only become more relevant and important over time.

Unlike in the book and musical, Esmeralda survives, and as much as I’ve heard people try to argue Esmeralda living is not true to the spirit of the original novel, I think it really suits the story being told and really feels just for both characters. Quasimodo deserved happiness; Esmeralda deserved happiness; and most importantly, this all the more highlights how different Quasimodo is from Frollo. Frollo says to Esmeralda, “Choose me or the fire” -- basically, if he can’t have her, he doesn’t want anyone else to...but Quasimodo doesn’t think that way. He cherishes Esmeralda and her friendship without any caveats or conditions: therefore him losing Esmeralda, whether to Phoebus or to death, doesn’t prompt him to commit suicide like he did in the novel. It’s not only a more uplifting ending, but I think a lesson in the selflessness of love, even if it’s just platonic love. And because Esmeralda loves Quasimodo just as much as a friend, she leads him out into the sun, where he finds even more of the love he deserves from the city he wished so much to belong in. Quasimodo doesn’t get the girl, but that was never what he wanted in the first place: it was merely to be accepted as he was.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was one of the most formative films of my childhood, right up there with Beauty and the Beast, The Prince of Egypt, and Anastasia, and it remains my second favorite Disney animated film of all time. With time, I’ve seen more and more of its flaws, but those flaws don’t ruin what in the end is one of the most daring, revolutionary projects Disney Animation has ever tackled. Its artistry, from the backgrounds to the character animation, is exceptional; all of its major human characters are multi-faceted, complex, and real; its themes are eternally relevant and powerful; and its score and nearly all of its songs are just through the stratosphere in their quality. Hunchback, along with Beauty and the Beast, made me fall in love with France from afar as a child, a love affair that has only become more and more intense through the years, and Quasimodo and Esmeralda even now are so close to my heart. I wish so much to be as kind and gentle as Quasimodo and as brave and noble as Esmeralda, and I can only hope that at some point, if I ever visit Disneyland Paris, I might finally meet them. The Hunchback of Notre Dame may not have gotten the appreciation it deserved when it first came to theaters, but I’ll always be happy to hear Disney fans remembering it as fondly as I do. Who knows? Maybe someday, the world will be wiser and will give this film its time in the sun at long last.

#d-views #disney reviews #the hunchback of notre dame #disney #opinion #analysis #reviews #oh boy here i go

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rawmerobotman · 5 years

Note

separate pls but can I have nsfw and fluff HCs of nautica, whirl and nickel?

SFW

Nickel

Has a hard time going to sleep, mostly because she’ll stay up late scrolling through a data pad, but the best spot to do so is curled up in your arms and the more snug you hold her the more liable she is to fall asleep.

Though she loves being held, she also likes to spoon you. Depending on your size there’ll be mornings where you’ll wake to find her attached to your butt.

It is a requirement that the two of you spend lunch together. She will go absolutely feral if someone tries to get between you and your short break together.

She sends at least one long text message to you each day, telling how you much she loves you and that she can’t comprehend how lucky she is to have found you when she’s missing you at work.

She’s lowkey looking for potential places to take vacations with you in her spare time. It’s not that she’s tired of medical work, but she wants to take time to get away with you where it’s just the two of you spending time together and relaxing. She’s the type of person who’ll spend their free time planning and back logging multiple files filled with different locations and events to consider attending.

Nautica

She has a particular love for couples activities! Always on the look out for things the two of you can do together, whether it’s hands on learning or something more trivial. If there’s ever a trivia night on the Lost Light, you can expect her to mop the floor with everyone else while also crediting you when it’s mostly her factual knowledge winning you the rounds.

She’ll sit in your lap over an actual seat any day if you let her.

Since she doesn’t necessarily enjoy parties and club scenes, spending the night with you is all she needs to be happy. She’ll love it when you plan quiet outings, even if it’s simply just finding a new location to sit and talk about your interests together.

Whenever the Lost Light goes planet side she’ll always want to be partnered with you if shore leave isn’t necessarily a given. She’ll turn a reconnaissance mission into a romantic outing and get lost in the woods if only to spend more time with you exploring the wilderness.

Will attempt to steal any and all moments she can with you if the two of you are on shift. She can make a convincing excuse so that she can sneak out to visit you. Your coworkers will jokingly call her out if they see her in their division and ask when she’s going to officially be transferred. Meanwhile, Rodimus and Megatron actually believe that’s where she’s stationed, and you certainly don’t help the matter either when you make up an excuse as to why she isn’t there at the moment.

Whirl

You are always at risk when roaming the ship. The two of you could be minding your business, going about your own days, but the moment this man sees you down the hall it’s over. Especially if your work schedules don’t line up and he hasn’t seen you all day, this man is dropping whatever he’s doing the moment he sees you to just run at you. The only warning you might get is the broken off cries of those caught in his path before you’re tangled in limbs and bearing the full brunt of his weight as he tries to wrap himself around you.

He’s not afraid to just drape himself all over you. You’ll find yourself trap underneath his cockpit while he holds you and attempts to haul you around with him. He’ll be able to get away with it because people will simply think he’s trying to annoy you when in reality he definitely just wants to hold you and keep you tucked close.

If he knows that you’ll be stuck doing menial and mundane work he’ll call just to distract you and keep you company. He’s also known for dropping by your workplace unannounced, whether to bring lunch or just to see how you’re doing.

He’s definitely the type of person who’ll wait up for you. Whether you’re working late or just out with friends, you can expect him to still be up waiting for you to return to your habsuite. Does not like going to bed without knowing you’ve made it home first.

He’s a constant companion wherever you go. Pretends that he’s something of a bodyguard looking out for you, but he certainly doesn’t trust easy knowing just how much peril is stored in the Lost Light. Hairpin trigger- if he sees even the slightest threat to your being he’s going to destroy it with extreme prejudice.

NSFW

Nickel

She is guilty of eating you out and than immediately wanting to make out with you, with a heavy amount of tongue.

On a similar note, nothing gets her engine revving like watching you suck on her fingers after she’s done fingering you.

An oral (and cum) fixation in general because she honestly can’t get enough of you or your mouth.

If she’s particularly cross, whether it’s from a meaningless argument or her simply noticing some unwanted advances someone’s made towards you, she’ll wrap her arms tight around you to keep you seated in her lap while she fucks you from below. She’ll hold you close to her chest and mutter darkly in your ear.

On more than one occasion you’ll have to come up with an adequate excuse to explain away the black marks on your face. If you offer to have her sit on your face there is the always the possibility that her wheels will spin in her excitement and you’ll receive tire marks along your cheeks. Though this is the cause of some embarrassment on her part, she is not apologetic in the slightest.

You’ll earn her undying love and affection if you’re able to get both her valve and spike off simultaneously. Though considerably more difficult, it’s easily accomplished with patience and dedication, and the reaction you’ll receive is well worth it: she’ll be near incomprehensible with her vocal delight, servos holding you fast against her. You might be able to parse the occasional cuss or declaration of love, but she is especially noisy and jovial when she overloads like this.

Doesn’t typically like making a mess when she cums. There’s only two places it belongs, and both of them are inside you ( ͡° ل͜ ͡°)

On that note: Cream pies *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ *･ﾟ

Nautica

Under no circumstance can she handle dirty talk. Sure she’ll be able to be sultry, but if you’re going to vividly describe something to her thinking it’s going to help get her in the mood you’ll be sorrily mistaken. If it’s super raunchy, she’ll just burst out laughing and than you’ll have to deal with her while she’s almost in tears. It’s one of the easiest ways to get her to laugh. She would rather you just be upfront and genuine with her about your needs instead because this is ridiculous.

Call her naughty and she will straight up bite you.

Speaking of which, she loves being able to laugh during interface!

Loves nothing better than being able to truly relax around another person and not have to adhere to a strict and serious view towards sex. Back in the sororities on Caminus, there was a lot of judgement passed on her because of her values that lead to a few unnecessary expectations, so most of her experiences were stiff and guarded. Just being able to laugh freely during sex without the other person taking offence is a weight off her shoulders.

If she’s bored she’s going to blow up your phone until you go back to your habsuite and fuck her.

Real into the idea of turning off the gravity in your room to fool around. Put the lights down low and throw on a glittery lava lamp for that starry effect and she’ll spend the entire evening wrapped around you, holding you close. On more than one occasion you’ve both been frantically trying to catch a string of transfluid before it hits something it’s not supposed to. It’s probably the funniest problem she’s ever had to deal with.

Enjoys the feeling of claws/nails dragging across her frame. Particularly fond of desperate clawing down her abdominal platting as she straddles you, though scratches along her back are just as nice. She’ll want your hands on her frame at all times.

When nobody’s looking, she’ll have her hands on you. Will try and get away with giving you a handy/finger you in public if you let her.

Whirl

If you’re a study bot get ready because this man is just going to hop into your lap whenever he pleases. Actually, he’ll just launch himself full tilt at you if he’s in the mood. He won’t care if you’re ready to catch him- it’s honestly part of the charm of jumping you when you least expect it. If you topple over, he wins, but if you catch him than you get to top.

Once he’s been seated in your lap there’s no removing him. He’s an aggressive rider and you’re dick is going to be sore by the time he’s finished. The same thing goes for your pussy; he’s absolutely insatiable when it’s comes to pussy grinding and frankly, it’s one of his favourite things.

As previously stated if he sees you wandering around by yourself he is coming for you. However, when he’s horny as hell and in need of a good smash? It’s an absolute scramble and you may or may not be hunted through the halls of the Lost Light until you concede to him.

Enjoys having his legs thrown over your shoulders. He’s actually pretty flexible, so he likes having his legs bent back and stretched as far as they can go.

It shouldn’t turn him on as much as it does, but having his claws clamped and being restrained is pretty high on the list of things that can get him going real quick. He’s certainly into the idea of you doing whatever you’d like to him and there not being a single thing he can do to stop you.

Oddly enough, he has an interest in the old plug and play technique. Though it’s become something of an obsolete form of intimacy, he loves nothing better than being hooked up and spending the night grinding against you. He won’t bring it up until later into your relationship when he’s comfortable and knows he can trust you.

Is actually quite partial to being stuffed with vibrators and simply having you hold him while he gets worked up. Doesn’t necessarily care if he gets off, but reclining against you might just be his favourite place.

#MTMTE #Whirl #Nautica #Nickel #valveplug #Transformers #Transformers imagines #my own works #long post #thank you for including nickel I love her

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tisthenightofthewitch · 6 years

Text

LAUGHING WITH THE DEVIL • GHOST PREPARES TO RIDE A PALE TOUR NAMED DEATH THROUGH SACRAMENTO

When I was a fourth grader, a friend of mine got me hooked on Iron Maiden’s Live After Death. Sure, there was a zombie looking dude on the cover that kind of creeped me out, I figured it was harmless fun. A cousin of mine found out I was listening to heavy metal and freaked out on me. She told me it was the devil’s music and I was going to go to hell or something for listening to it. I don’t really remember the whole thing because I was, like, 10 and it was the ‘80s, and she freaked me the fuck out. Turns out that traumatized me more than any Maiden song ever did. I thought about this while I was coming up with questions for the following interview with Tobias Forge, frontman for Swedish metal band Ghost, who has tapped into that whole satanic panic thing and ran with it. Heck, it’s even earned him a Grammy.

Ghost released its debut album (Opus Eponymous) in 2010, but no one even knew who was in the group—at least officially—until 2017. Forge, Ghost’s sole songwriter, had his identity revealed when former bandmates filed a lawsuit against him. The ex-band members claimed they were owed profits because Ghost was a collaboration, whereas Forge saw the band as a solo project with a rotating cast of players. After our interview, on Oct. 17, a Swedish court dismissed the lawsuit, ordering the ex-band members to pay Forge’s legal fees, according to Blabbermouth.net.

Prior to his legal battle, Forge was known as Papa Emeritus I, II and III, the skull-faced anti-popes who front Ghost’s band of Nameless Ghouls. For the band’s latest album, Prequelle, which was released April 2018, Forge has taken on the mantle of Cardinal Copia, who looks sort of like a demonic Tony Clifton. The album is loosely based on the Black Plague, which ravaged Europe during the mid-14th Century. The lead single from the album, “Rats,” is a driving, arena-sized rocker. Its corresponding music video is as whimsically choreographed as it is gory. These things may seem contradictory, but Forge probably wouldn’t have it any other way.

Your stage presence is pretty theatrical. Are rehearsals for your live show more akin to, say, those for a Broadway show, or do you focus primarily on the music? We tend to focus more on the music. I’m not a super-fan of rehearsing [laughs]. It’s hard to summon the spirit to appear when there’s no smoke machine on and when the lights are different. I tend to find those sort of rehearsals are more for muscle memory, in terms of just making sure I can sing a certain thing … Especially when you’re rehearsing a new set, because this time around we’re going to change up the set a little and at least try to play a few songs that we haven’t played before, and you always want to try that … More than often, there’s a reason for a song not being played, and it might just be that it doesn’t work out very well. It’s hard to play, and you never really get that vibe going. The placement of the song in the set is very important. Like, OK, we’re going to try this song after this one now and see if the energy is right. It’s a little bit more mathematical and in a sense more scientific, whereas once you do the first show, that’s when you go into the role a little bit more, and it gets a little bit more magical or whatever.

Is there a particular song that you’re looking forward to playing live for the first time? Oh … aaaahhhh … I don’t really want to give it away right now! There may be a song on the list right now that we end up not playing. Let’s put it this way, there are some songs from the new album that we haven’t played before, and also there are some songs that we’ve played in the past, and other songs that we haven’t played from previous albums that we are considering playing. But again, you need to play them together and try them out. The real test is trying them in front of an audience. There have been songs throughout our tours that I thought were going to be really good to play live, but then once you play it, it just does not fly because the crowd isn’t responding very well. It doesn’t mean that they start booing, but you notice that it goes down in intensity … or you see people lose their interest, or that’s when they all of a sudden go buy beers.

Does that take you out of character when you’re on stage? You have the music, which is awesome, but you also have the visual component that goes with it. Is that part of why the setlist is so important? Oh, absolutely. Sometimes, I guess people, especially nowadays, people have a tendency to watch live shows beforehand on YouTube, and some people want to know the setlist beforehand, which I strongly recommend people not to. There’s a reason for a setlist being the way it is. As much as I admire Bruce Springsteen for taking requests, basically, for us it does not work like that …

In my perfect world, I’m a little bit of a … what do you call it? I like comfort in the sense that preferably, I’d like to play the same set every night and get better at performing it that way, because you know how to distribute your energy so that by the last couple of songs, which are our most intense … You need to sort of sit on energy to make them explode.

It’s interesting to hear that you look for comfort in your live sets since you change your persona every album. Is that something that’s difficult to juggle—comfort versus not wanting to repeat yourself? When it comes to certain aspects, yes. When it comes to the live show, I think, let’s just say, most bands throughout rock history have found their form at some point. And then, after you’ve found that form, you don’t want to change too much. If that form has taken you to a certain plateau and that has given you a certain amount of success, that will be what people expect of you and that will be what you’re comfortable doing … However, what we do intend to change up, what will always change, more from a production point of view, is what we wear, what the stage looks like, effects and props and actors or whatever. One easy example of what I’m talking about that we should not do is that over the years, ever since Papa I became Papa II and onwards, there’s been a little vocal minority that felt that Papa I was menacing and evil, and they wanted that menacing evil to stay and any animation that went beyond that rigor mortis that he had was selling out or whatever. The thing is we can never return to that. That worked because we played 30 minutes in the dark, basically, with all fog on stage. That worked because you saw very little. But we can never go back to that because we’re playing big places now. We’re playing for two hours. You need animation. You need things to happen.

I watched the webisodes for the Prequelle album, and what struck me most about them was how funny they were. I liked that there was a sense of humor to them and not just all grim and foreboding. Is that something you enjoy playing with, too? I don’t want to say absurdity, but maybe the campiness that’s always been the backside of horror. Absolutely. I think campiness—for the lack of a nicer word for it—is very much in line with the trashier nature of the culture that is horror. I’m a big fan of kitsch. I’m a big fan of trash culture. For some reason, there’s a minority of people who tend to think that the devil and death metal and all that shouldn’t be in any way about humor. Even though, believe me, I truly admire and I really appreciate a good dose of serious, orthodox darkness as well, but for me, looking at it from a philosophical point of view, laughter and satire and comedy is very, very against establishment, church, conformity. For me, humor and comedic elements is, for one, very natural for me. I like things that are in one way or another comedic. But I think if there was an argument for the campiness overshadowing the seriousness that should be satanic metal, I definitely beg to differ. No, no, no, this is very blasphemous, because it’s about laughter. Laughter is the work of the devil. Remember The Name of the Rose? According to old ways of Christianity, laughter and comedy were definitely the work of the devil. I think this is in all aspects utterly blasphemous from that point of view. But, at the end of the day, I’m a big culture fan. I love kitsch and having fun and living my life and filling it with as many enriching things as possible. I think a lot of the things I find rewarding and pleasant in one way or another are represented in what I’m trying to do with Ghost.

Prequelle is sort of a modern re-telling of The Black Plague. How do you think that period of history relates to now? I’m talking from a Westerner living in a Western world perspective—we tend to talk about our contemporary time as being almost pre-apocalyptic. We tend to talk about the world as something that’s about to end. Of course, from an environmental point of view, maybe it is. I do not know, but maybe it is. But there are a lot of people on this earth who tend to persevere. We will probably do whatever it takes not to melt the ice, eventually … Maybe too late, but whatever. The thing is, the world has come to an end many, many times. In the 1340s and 1350s, people thought this was the end of the world. I’m sure that people in places other than the Western world are facing the end of the world. We all know that in Syria, millions of people were facing the end of their world. Looking in hindsight on The Black Plague in the 1300s, we know that it wasn’t. We had the 1400s, the 1500s … way further than anyone in the 1300s could ever imagine. I think especially now in modern days, we tend to pride ourselves in thinking, well, there’s nothing new to say, there’s nothing new to write. I think we overblow our significance and also the ultimate nature of the day that we’re living in. Who knows, maybe in 20 years, we’ll look back and say, “The 2010s, wow, I’m glad that’s over.” Like, look at a presidency. It’ll end after a few years. It’ll change. Things fucking change. They always do.

That’s an oddly hopeful message from the leader of a satanic metal band … It’s there to shine a light on the idea that things do change. Even though Prequelle on the surface is a record about death and dying, it’s actually a record about survival.

SubmergeMag.com

#Tobias Forge #Tobias Interview #The Band Ghost #Ghost Band #Cardinal Copia

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ghostiehatesithere · 5 years

Text

Carry On Chapter 3

Lotor wasn't surprised when he learned of Malrvotor’s escape. He wasn't surprised but that didn't stop the disappointment from forming in his chest. It also didn't escape his attention that the Galra Empire had almost immediately lost Malevotor's home planet mere days after his escape.

His generals had also been greatly disappointed by his absence, especially Zethrid and Narti. Narti was the first if his generals to ever be introduced to Mal. She had been a mere servant girl that had been placed in his care to serve him. She didn't say much but her reaction times were amazing as well as the way she could sense the world around her without eyes.

Narti found comfort in the fact that the Prince was just like her but was nearly cowarding behind the prince when he first took her to meet Mal. She had heard the sickening sounds of his battles on the rare occasions that she was forced to work at the Pit and made sure to avoid trouble so that she wouldn't be thrown in with him. No one would miss a blind cub that never spoke and she tried to use that to her advantage to escape the ire of her superiors.

She knew Malevotor by the scent of blood that lingered around him after every match. Death has almost become something she directly associated with the Kelekonian king. She had thought that she had somehow angered Lotor and that he was going to allow Malevotor to dispose of her. However to her surprise the Prince spoke casually with the large Kelekonian. He introduced her as his friend and she had to fight herself from cringing when the stench of blood grew strong with Malevotor's approach.

He sniffed at Narti for a while and she couldn't bring herself to move, thinking that one wrong move would be her last.

"She has no eyes," he had noted aloud with neither disgust or derision in his tone like others.

"She was born without them," Lotor had excitedly explained to the former king. "I think father assigned her to me because of that and because she's a hybrid like me!"

"Why because of her eyes?" Mal had asked in confusion.

"She can't see! Can't you tell?"

"I can see that she lacks eyes but plenty of my people can be born without eyes or just one. They have more difficulty than others getting around but they find ways to see in their own way."

This intrigued Narti. People without eyes? Just like her? She had been led to believe that the very absence of eyes was an abomination as well as the impurity of her blood. Yet he had completely brushed off the latter and changed her life about the former.

Acxa had came next. She was a hybrid slave, mockingly given to Lotor by one of Zarkon's generals. Lotor felt as though his father was placing the "undesirables" under his command to remind him of all that he was and all that he wasn't. His contempt for them will always extend to his son despite their shared blood, maybe even because of it. Lotor had been the first to actually care about her.

She had stumbled upon Mal's lessons with Lotor and Narti completely by accident. Or not depending on who you asked. She had noticed the way that Lotor and Narti would sneak off in the middle of the night cycles and head down to the Pits. One night she had followed them and nearly caught a heart attack when she caught the Prince and Narti fighting an alien nearly twice their combined size.

Without a second thought, Acxa leapt into actionn ready to defend her prince against the imminent danger. It wasn't until she had been pinned down by Mal's tail did she realize that the fighting had ended. They had all stared at her with wide eyed shock. It was in that moment that she realized that she had entirely misunderstood the situation and got into to something that she didnt know that she needed.

Mal had liked her loyalty and devotion to Lotor but had also admonished her for it. "It's admirable that you want to protect Lotor but you must always understand that there is a time and a place for protecting. You have to decide when you must protect and when you must win."

This was a particularly hardd lesson that Mal had to beat into her with each lesson but she did it. Though there were still times when she would throw caution to the wind and stick her neck out for Lotor at the entirely wrong time.

Ezor and Zethrid came as a pair. They had been appointed as bodyguards which was a slight on both them and Lotor. Ezor and Zethrid because Zarkon refused to have half-breeds in his military, able to hold a position of power and Lotor because Zarkon gave his son bodyguards that he deemed was scraping the bottom of the barrel. What does it say about Lotor if his father employed the very half-breeds he deemed worthless as his personal guards.

Zethrid was very vocal about how she felt about Lotor, thinking him a spoiled prince who knew nothing of the struggle of the people beneath his station. Ezor didn’t care one way or another about the small prince. Zethrid was full of rage and stronger than the average Galra. It actually amazed Mal when he learned that Zethrid was actually a huge fan of him. She had attended many of his matches and admired how he had yet to lose a match. He always looked so calm in even when you could practically smell the rage that permeated his being while there.

She wanted to be as strong as him and was incredibly jealous when she found out that Lotor had been training with her idol. She demanded to join the training session and was shocked and impressed when Lotor stood up to her. Despite his shorter stature it felt like he was towering over her when he met her gaze and told her no. He didn’t back down even when she threatened to tell his father and that made her reluctantly respect the runt. He made it explicitly clear that he would introduce her when he was ready and not a moment sooner. He even took a little petty revenge by dragging his feet to introduce her.

Mal was particularly amused by her because she always demanded that he fight her. She was particularly impatient when he took his time consider how he would train her, It was obvious tat she was strong and even had the potential to become stronger than him in terms of pure strength. However, it was as she was sparring with the others that he realized that Lotor’s greatest strength was her greatest weakness.

She didn’t think. She would get easily frustrated and fly off the rails into a violent rage. She had skill but very little considering she solely relied on her brute strength. It would be easy for a quick and clever opponent like Lotor or Ezor to be able to manipulate her uncontrolled anger into a victory.

Ezor’s biggest problem was that she was too easily read. You could tell what she was about to do just by looking at her face. Upon telling her as much, she huffed and glared at Mal. “Yeah, I know.”

Mal gave her the best “oh really” look, not appreciating the teenage attitude. “Knowing doesn’t mean anything if you’ve learned to accept it. This is a fatal flaw that could end up killing you Red. Do you want to die?”

Ezor pouted sheepishly and crossed her arms, properly cowed, “No.”

“Then quit the grumpy teenager act and listen. You need to find your game face,” Mal had instructed and continued to explain upon receiving a confused look from Ezor. “It’s the expression you’re most comfortable with which means that you won’t have as hard of a time keeping it up.”

It took a while but Ezor found her game face in her smile. She explained that she enjoyed the way her blood would roar in her ears and her heart pounded in her chest when she fought and she couldn’t help but to smile while fighting. It wasn’t a knowing or bloodthirsty smirk like Lotor or Zethrid. It was a genuine smile of amusement. Mal congratulated her for her achievement.

“You’ve got a good grin Red. It would unsettle lesser opponents and frustrate others,” he’d said.

Lotor was riding a high after his fight against Throk that helped him gain the favor of the empire. He’d ordered Throk to be transferred to the Ulippa System to prevent any possible trouble later on before heading back to his rooms where he changed out of his military garb and into a loose pair of pants as he examined the geode that Mal had gifted him.

It’s warmth was still steadily pulsing, although he couldn’t help but to notice that the pulse was a lot slower than usual and he couldn’t help but to worry. Even the glittering white flecks in the dark crystals weren’t shining as brightly as they did before. What did this mean? Was something wrong with Mal? He’s not dead otherwise it would have gone cold and lost all color so what is going on?

He found neither answers nor rest that night as he prayed to the stars that Mal was alright. He needed to know that there was still someone in the universe that he could trust no matter what. His generals were around but they didn’t completely understand. Not like Mal.

He promised himself to set aside time to establish some form of contact with Mal or his people as soon as he stabilized his position as ruler. He needed the people’s support whether his father miraculously got better or not. Maybe he could even study why Kelekonians’ bodies rejected quintessence and how they managed to survive without that which seemed to be present in every other living being that he’d come across. But that will have to come much later.

Hey everyone this is the end of the third chapter and I’m glad that you all have been enjoying the story so far! So far I’ve been presenting things solely from Lotor’s POV and what Mal means to Lotor. In the next chapter I will be delving into Mal’s side of things. How he feels and thinks in relation to Lotor and his generals. Keep in mind these are his babies but he is at the point where he’s letting his babies make their own mistakes. It won’t stop him from agonizing over where his kids are and “casually” asking about them occasionally but I digress.

@starfaring-princelotor @motheroflittlelions @fandomsoffeelings @done-with-your-shit-shirogane @kirahhhh @legendofcarl @lotor-for-emperor @marvelheaux @yanderemommabean @lotorrential @planet-jumping-warrior

#lotor #prince lotor #vld #vld imagine #mal #oc #volron #voltron imagines #voltron fanfic #welcome to the lotor deserved better coalition

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littleredroseonthevalley · 6 years

Text

St. Paul

Or, How the Ladies Take Their Tea in Grover

Summary: During a garden party at Edgewater, Ernest finds himself alone with Miss Beauchamp. She teaches him a thing or two about the arts of conversation and entertaining.

Rating: MA - for mature adults only. May contain explicit language and adult themes.

Words: 1522

Notes: So, this is yet another twist on Desire & Decorum. I seem to be full of those lately.

About tagging: since this is neither on the line of Drawing Room nor Mary Magdalene/St. Thomas Aquinas, I just went on ahead and tagged everybody I tagged for those other fics. If you happen to not like, sorry! I hope you do, though. Oh, and can someone talk to me on private to say whether you’re getting the responses for your comments? I answered them all, but I think some haven’t gone through. Crappy Tumblr, as always.

I hope you also find it exciting and humorous like I did. Because let me tell y’all, Ernest... well, you’ll see.

Before we move along to the story, answer me this: how do the ladies take their tea in Grover? With cream. Got it?

Enjoy!

“It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”

~ 1 Corinthians 7:1.

Ernest took as much haste as he possibly could down the gravel road, being hindered by the unsteadiness of his dress shoes and the discretion necessary for the completion of the task.

You see, he had seen Miss Beauchamp, the Earl’s natural daughter, racing that path a few moments earlier and he could not help himself but to wonder what was she doing.

It is how it is said about wilful little boys, they cave in easily to the whimsical flings that happen to enrapture their attention in any given moment. The country esquire could not resist the temptation to follow the pretty, new thing to see what she could be doing.

Fortunately for him, he did not have to walk far. She was pacing calmly by a pond on the edge of her father’s property. Her fan was in its intended use, producing a refreshing breeze into her lower neck and cleavage, which the stale air of early spring could not provide.

The exposed milky skin of the young woman glistened in the sunlight, while her cheeks seemed to be rather flustered. Her teeth were pressed delicately against her lower, crimson lip.

The man could not say how long he kept watching like a creep on the edges of the pond, but it was certainly more than any semblance of appropriate, and enough for the female to notice him.

Upon recognition, her head made a slight pend backwards, allowing her nose to stand tall and proud in the air. She released her lip, as she turned her expression into an arrogant smirk, half concealed by the now static, semi-opened fan.

“Have no-one told you it is rude to stare, Mr Sinclaire?” She asks, with that wayward tone she seemed to favour on every interaction between the two of them.

“Yes, they have.” He responded, oddly resembling of a child trying to escape a reprimand. “It is I who should ask about your manners, Miss Beauchamp. I am sure that even in Grover it is considered in poor taste to run off a party in one’s own honour.”

She chuckles, drily. “If you insist in admonish me, I must ask for you to step closer. I find discussions amongst shouting to be unproductive, especially those meant to be private.”

Minding himself, Ernest closes the distance between the two of them from about five meters to the minimum appropriate, which would be about an arm’s length.

“The Duke was looking for me. Undoubtedly to bore me to tears with yet another story about his greatness or bravery.” The woman says, clear disdain marred her words. Not that Ernest blames her in any way. “Miss Parsons was by me and suggested for us to escape to this area of the garden, but it seems she got caught up on something. I was enjoying the scenery until you interrupted me, and that should sum up my behaviour since we last spoken. Is it to your satisfaction?”

He supressed a side smile over the faux-spoiled act she was throwing and nodded solemnly. “I cannot fault you. Save for his title, there is little reason why anyone would willingly submit to the Duke’s conversation.”

“I am glad you see things my way, Mr Sinclaire.” She smiles softly at him before continuing, “I do not think Miss Parsons will be leaving the party soon. I assume it is your gentlemanly duty to entertain me before we, ourselves, re-join the celebrations.”

The blond man scoffs. “I am sure both of our reputations would suffer less taint if I just left you to your quiet contemplation.”

“You followed me here, Mr Sinclaire, to a quiet, empty corner of the garden. I think the good men down at the harbour put it best when they say that ship has sailed.” She stifles a giggle with the fan. “Besides, if I recall correctly, earlier this afternoon you complained about your difficulty with socialization. Think of it like practice.”

“And how do you propose to have me practice my social skills with you, Miss Beauchamp?” He asks, rather aggravated.

“I find myself to be a pleasant companion and a witty conversationalist, Mr Sinclaire, not to mention I am willing to be a patient mentor.” She says with a flick of her fan. “I daresay you will find no better alternative.”

He had to concede the logic of her argument. “Very well, Miss Beauchamp. Charm me with your accomplishments. Ravish my senses with your conversation.”

The woman clicked her tongue. “Don’t mind if I do. In fact, I have a crippling curiosity about you, Mr Sinclaire.”

“Is it? What about?” He questions, as she takes an arm that was not offered.

“How is it that a wealthy, handsome man like you, Mr Sinclaire, cannot find himself a lady for his manor?” She questions, with the neutrality of someone who talks about the weather.

Unsurprisingly, the blond chokes in his own saliva as he tries to make sense of the question, rendering the whole thing only the more entertaining for the young woman.

“I am a single man, it is no secret, but the matter of my perceived fairness is in your own account, Miss Beauchamp.” He says, masking his embarrassment in austerity. “Perhaps you ought to keep those observations to yourself.”

“Oh, like the enviable discretion you used upon studying my décolletage?” She asks, with ireful haughtiness. “God saw fitting to give me two perfectly functioning eyes just like yours, Mr Sinclaire, and a mind I do not believe to have inner workings much too different from yours. I see what I see, and I like what I like. It so happened to be you.”

“I… I…” He stutters. “Please, Miss Beauchamp. Do not talk those things, or a gentleman cannot be blamed for having the wrong idea.”

She chuckles, pulls his arm with her left hand and gently wavers the fingers of her right one over the buttons of his coat, bringing a pink glow to his cheeks and a tingling sensation to his midsection.

“I thought I told you.” She says, and, with barely a whisper, continues, “I tell only the truth. Lest to be misunderstood.”

“Miss Beauchamp…” He tried to say, but she was like a viper, having him surrounded and submitted to her ministrations.

“You talk about the way of the people from Grover. Perhaps I ought to teach you a trick that makes all the boys from the county town to lose their minds.”

Having his arm pinned the entire time, she used her free right hand to trail the entirety of his chest and stomach, up until it hovered over the top right button of his trousers.

“No!” He fought against her spell. “I can’t. You can’t! Your reputation… The taint!”

She chuckled once more. “Do not worry. Nothing that we will do shall jeopardize my virtue.”

Before Ernest could manifest yet another objection, she unfastened the buttons in front of his breeches and reached for the raging erection inside.

“This would be much more fun for both of us if we could remove the entirety of your garments.” She commented, with a pitch of taunt. “No matter, I am sure you’ll enjoy either way.”

The poor esquire could only stutter nonsense at this point, which worked fine for the lady lowering herself to her knees, as she could focus on the task at hand.

The young man’s sex was long and lean, an image of its owner, the pink, pulsating head testifying about its long neglect. It was, by no means, not the largest she had ever seen, but she conceded it had a respectable size for an Englishman.

Not to waste any more time, she covered her teeth with her lips and mouthed the whole thing in a swift move, letting the head hit the back of her throat. The first emissions hitting her tongue with a savoury, rich taste, typical of a man with an aristocratic diet.

Ernest, in turn, tried desperately to cling to the last remnants of dignity he had left by controlling his vocalization and his apex through thought exercises. First, he thought of his ex-wife’s annoying habits. Then, of his father’s saggy man breasts. Finally, he had to appellate to the Dowager Countess’ figure.

It was to no use, as too soon for his pride and for her wishes, Ernest almost shouted “Lord Almighty!” and filled Miss Beauchamp’s mouth with the white substance.

Raising to her feet once more, Miss Beauchamp nicks the handkerchief on Sinclaire’s breast pocket and softly cleans the corners of her lips.

“This has been most entertaining, Mr Sinclaire.” She smirked at him, as she hides the sullied handkerchief inside her dress, under her breast. “I will be leaving first.”

Without so much as another word, she turns her back and leaves up the gravel path that took him there in the first place.

Dazed in the afterglow, Ernest watched her retreating figure with his breeches still undone, no thought going through his head.

That woman would be the death of him.

Taglist: @choicesyouplayandmore @cocomaxley @laniquelovely @shelivesinthewoods

#desire & decorum #ernest sinclaire

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maybeshelives · 5 years

Text

gay things up

We should acklowledge more often the importance of queer represantation in mainstream media. (For the right reasons)

Sure, I can binge watch all six seasons of the L Word - and, trust me, I have - but I still have this undying thirst to gay things up a little. I feel unbalanced occasionally, as if there are still parts of my sexuality I haven’t really addressed, understood and embraced, which consequently urges me to focus more on my gay side rather than my sexuality as a whole: my preferrences in the type of people I sleep with, the type of sexual relationships I form, the things I (dis)like in bed, you know, the list is endless. It makes me think that all these years of repressing my sexuality have made me keep it in a box and just narrow it down to the gender I’d rather have sexual encounters with, which is a rabbit hole itself, all things (gender norms and stereotypes, personal beliefs etc) considered, and just get elated even by the implication that two men or women on TV are queer; neither examining if I like them as people, nor caring about their chemstry or the quality of their relationship, no.

Just keep my standards to the lowest point possible and MAKE IT GAY AS FUUUUUCK.

Being queer in a world of heteronormativity is sometimes a double-edged knife; even your best LGBTQ+ allies are ignorant of your reality.

Yeah well, my straight friends support me on my same sex relationships. But they also don’t really get them most of the time. “What are you talking about?” you will asked surprised, “romantic relationships don’t differ based on the gender of the people involved. It’s the personalitites that matter”.

Well, yes. But also no.

My straight friends can’t really understand the consequenses of being closeted for years, the fear of stigma, the fact that even in 2019 there are still people wishing all of us “degenerates” a slow and painful death (just watch Ellen Page’s amazing show called “Gaycation”; during the Brazil episode, the two hosts interview a serial killer who specifically targets gay people, because he believes that they’re worse than animals and the world should be cleansed by their filthy presense).

There are several bagages following us around, issues that straight people (thankfully) never had to face, like the fear of flirting with the wrong person (especially while being closeted), the fact that our sexual orientation is often times not being taken seriously, the fact that for ages there was a very small amount of LGBTQ+ representation in media, and sometimes it was played out for laughs, or even blatantly killed off (lately, there’s also the issue of “queercoding”or “queerbating”, which is rather complex itself), the fear of violence used against us on the street just for holding hands with someone; being marginalized at any level, a minority, ANY KIND of minority, sucks. Because the majority doesn’t even see you, at times.

But we exist. This should be written in enormous neon letters, and not in 8-sized Arial Narrow ones, as it very often is right now.

No, J. K. Rowlling, I don’t want to have to wear rainbow-coloured strap-ons covered in glitter (wink wink, Sense8) and do my YMCA dance in order to have the revelation that Albus Dumbledore is fucking gay back in 2007. It’s not on print, it’s only a few words said during a sold-out book reading. You had your moment of gay-friendly glory and inclusiveness, but that’s it. During an entire franchise with dosens of presumably heterosexual characters, the single outed person (and one of the most important for plot progression purposes, too) doesn’t even get to have their own moment of gayness. Not even in the prequel, apparently (if you’re new to this, please watch the videos on queercoding I’ve linked above and you’ll be right on track). And you have the audacity to keep on doing it.

No, I don’t want to fucking speculate if Captain Marvel is queer either. No, I don’t want to wonder if Thor: Ragnarok’s Valkyrie is indeed bisexual. (Fun fact: It is being speculated that the two aforementioned characters will hit it off in the new Avengers: Endgame movie). Or the two Teen Wolf guys. Or Dean and Michael from Supernatural. Or several characters from Riverdale. Ugh, it’s exhausting.

And even though it might come off as just another lesbian who’s trying to make it all about her sexuality, shoving it in straight people’s faces, I have to say that heterosexual people are pretty ignorant regarding even their own sexuality from time to time. And that’s problematic for everyone.

Please, let me explain.

Not fully exploring and “owning” one’s sexuality primarily means that they’re missing out experiences they could, in fact, enjoy A LOT. From having sexual partners of all genders to being the proud owner of the best buttplug collection in an entire city, a good sexual experience that never takes place is a missed opportunity. I personally wouldn’t like to miss out on that, like the dirty, dirty hedonist I am.

This missing-outness, self-deception and ignorance can go on for years, decades even. Just simply ask popular YouTubers or my (formerly gold star lesbian) ex-girlfriend (yes, the opposite is also possible).

But, such a personal issue becomes public when queerness and gender & sexuality spectrums are not even seen as something that can be part of anyone’s psyche, especially in the majority of the population. Hence the marginalizing. LGBTQ+ substance, accodring to many people, is something out of this world.

That’s what makes queercoding so annoying. Because it sends off the message that LGBTQ+ characters, romances and storylines are not important enough to be portrayed as openly and clearly as their heteronormative counterparts; they’re pictured as something that will never fully grow and be explored, since it isn’t as significant.

So,why does mainstream representation matter?

In a world soaked in and based onto heteronormativity and whiteness, being LGBTQ+ inclusive has been mislabeled as “pushing an agenda”, where even childhood is being used as a deterrent, a queerness-repellant, which can also breed internalized homophobia.

“Don’t publicly show pictures of faggots kissing, children might see them”. “Dykes shouldn’t be allowed to adopt children, because they [the children] won’t have the right role-models, I mean, who will be the mom and who will be the dad? Plus they will also be bullied by other children”.

I was watching an Ellen Page interview on Stephen Colbert that took place almost two months ago, and I couldn’t help but notice how emotional she still gets every time she talks about LGBTQ+ problems (she has been very vocal about them since she came out as gay in 2014). “This needs to fucking stop” she says.

And, goodness, it does. When the, among others, argument that equality for everyone shouldn’t be debatable still is seen as “cringey activism” by some, it becomes more than apparent why representation of any minority in the mainstream media matters.

Pop culture is like a huge educator. We tend to internalize images shown to us from an early age, we learn to normalize toxic behaviors and worldviews in the exact same way, and even if we can’t really control anyone’s parenting (and homophobia and lack of understanding and acceptance, unless it becomes abusive for the minor, and this abuse is apparent to other adults), there’s still hope that pop culture can bring the bigger picture, all the vieriety of human identity and experience, into our homes.

As I’m thinking about it, I realize that I had never seen a (happy) lesbian couple on television or movies until I was about fourteen or sixteen. Ever. Like, ever. Needless to say, I have my fair share of images depicting straight couples in multiple situations.

So, if you’re not a queer person, a trans person or a person of colour or someone with special needs or mentally ill, and you’re also not convinced by my long-ass rant, consider this: What if you had never ever seen someone like you in a film before until you were fifteen? Or what if you had only seen stereotypical images and expectations of people like you, as a side story to someone else’s bigger and more “important” story? A side story as seen and perceived by the heteronormative gaze?

Or maybe as a joke? A joke that wasn’t made by people like you, people who truly understand what it’s like being you and the actually funny aspects of your own identity and struggles.

Wouldn’t you grow up thinking that you’re a little bit of a monster?

"Like when someone says he wants to watch the world burn. You only get to watch when you have the privilege of not being on fire. It's edgy, but it's not The Darkness. The Darkness is finding a way to laugh about being on fire". - Natalie Wynn

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PS: I know that I’ve used too many embeded referrences, but if you’re interested in this topic, please take your time to examine them. They have broadened my horizons a lot, and gave me comfort and the validation that I’m not insane for feeling and seeing life that way.

#queercoding #representation #lgbtq #ellen page #mainstream media #minority #marginalization #queer

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